Chasing Anubis
by Padshii Angel
Summary: This is a follow on of Shamrocks and Pyramds. I get the feeling that I'm going to owe my mum a new copy of The Mummy Returns by the end of this. What could be in store for Isobelle and Ardeth? Warning, it does have allusions to rape in it. Disclaimer: I only own my own O/C's. Anything else belongs to Steven Somers. I don't accept challenges.
1. Prologue

Chasing Anubis

Prologue:

_** I am truly sorry, my beloved Ardeth. I do not expect you to wait for me, but I promise I will return someday.  
**_Ardeth felt a howl of loss well up as he read Isobelle's letter.  
He scrunched up the tear stained page she'd torn from her journal and threw it across the tent before stalking out.

"_Akil, Mohammed, Abdullah. Get ready to leave."_ He snapped at the three men who stood waiting for him patiently. _"Amala, you will come with us."_ He added to his sister who had just joined them.  
The young woman nodded, running to get her horse ready.  
Mohammed walked up to Ardeth cautiously.

"_May I ask what we are doing going out into the desert at this hour?"_ the young man asked nervously.

"_Isobelle has left."_ Ardeth exhaled audibly, as if speaking those three words made her flight into the desert real and not just a nightmare.

Isobelle O'Connell ran hard, crying silently as she did. She knew she would only have a few hours to reach Cairo and disappear into the squalor of the night life before the Medjai caught up with her.  
The Nile came into view and she skidded to a halt, she looked over her shoulder, opening her senses she listened to the desert, allowing the sands to carry messages to her on the wind.  
Ardeth had gotten together a small group of warriors and his younger sister Amala and they were pursuing her across the desert on horseback.  
She turned to face the direction they were coming from and held her hands up, bringing her will to bear.

"I'm so sorry." She sobbed quietly and sent a huge sandstorm to them, slowing them down and obliterating her tracks, holding it as long as possible before she dived into the Nile and swam towards Cairo.


	2. Chapter 1 Imhotep resurrected

**I haven't forgotten you guys! here's chapter one.**

Nine years later

Alex staggered into the house, struggling under the weight of the chest his mother had asked him to carry inside for her.

"Mum, what do you want me to do with this chest?" he called to his mother on the upstairs landing. "Sucker weighs a god dang tonne."

"Alex watch your language." The dark haired woman snapped down at him.

"Rather weighty this." He called up innocently as he dropped the chest onto a side table. He turned around, prepared to leave it for Evy to deal with when he heard a metallic click, surrounded by ghostly voices.  
The eight year old turned back with a curious grunt. Walking back to it he pulled out the star shaped key his mother had given to him to look after out of his pocket and fit it into the lock.  
Opening the chest he saw a solid gold bracelet intricately designed in true Egyptian fashion with the head of a jackal facing towards him.  
Curiously he pulled it out and rested it on his left wrist.  
The bracelet snapped closed and jerked his arm up, causing a funny overlay of vision, all around him he could see his home, but above that he could see the pyramids at Giza, and then he was flying across the desert, stopping in the temple at Karnak.  
The vision faded and he looked around, momentarily disoriented.  
Frantically he began trying to get the bracelet off.  
"Cripes, how do you get this thing off!" he grunted as he pulled at it.

"Hey Alex behave yourself for five minutes alright?" His father called down half sternly.

"You betcha!" Alex called back, turning to close the lid of the chest.  
He paused then grabbed an old baseball trophy and dropped it in, slamming the lid of the chest down, swiping the key and hiding it in his underpants nervously, turning as his mother reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Happy to be home?" She asked with a smile.

"Couldn't be happier." He said struggling to hide how nervous he was.

"It's the year of the scorpion." She turned the book in her hands around and handed it to him.

"Neat!" he said genuinely as he grabbed the book from his mother.

"Thought you might like that." Evy said with a smile. "Now, where's that key I gave you?" She asked suddenly.  
Alex froze, swallowing as his eyes went wide. "Alex." She demanded sternly. "Where is the key?"

"I can't find it." He lied swiftly, hoping she would just yell at him and then drop it, getting more nervous when she crouched down and started rifling through his pockets quickly.

"Alex, I'm serious, if you've lost that key you're grounded." She snapped as she finished her search and started again, rifling through them more thoroughly this time.

"I haven't lost it." Alex defended quickly, hoping to stop her searching for it before the key fell out of his underpants. "I just can't find it, there's a difference." She huffed and stood up slowly.

"Well, you'd better start _finding_ it then." She growled menacingly.

"I will mum, there's nothing to worry about." He said stepping back as she opened his jacket to check the inside pocket, feeling the key slip out a little bit more.

"Good evening." A tall swarthy skinned man said as he came around a screen.  
Evy flinched and rose, simultaneously turning and shoving Alex behind her.

"Who are you?" she demanded as he gave her a cold smile. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for the chest, of course." He responded as if it should have been obvious why he was there.  
Alex grabbed the chest quickly, his heart racing inside of his chest. "Give it to me now." Evy took three steps and grabbed a sword from one of the many racks boasting some truly beautiful weapons, holding it up, ready to fight with it.

"Get out, of my house." She ordered firmly.

"Whoa mum." Alex said with wide eyes. "Maybe not the best idea."

"Alex, get back there." She snapped waving the small blond boy back as more red clad men came to back the first man up.

"Definitely not the best idea." He said as he did as his mother bid. "I think it's time to yell for dad now." All of the men stepped forward menacingly.

"Now I will kill you and take it anyway." The dark skinned man purred gleefully.

"I think not." Came a deep, smooth voice from behind them and a man wearing black robes embroidered in silver stepped past Alex.

"Ardeth, what are you doing here?" Evy asked quietly, pleased to see the tall Medjai warrior that Isobelle had run off into the desert with nine years ago.

"Perhaps explanations are best kept for later." The warrior said with a quick glance at Evy.

"Ardeth Bay." The dark skinned man whispered scornfully.

"Lock-Nah." Ardeth responded quietly.  
All of the red clad men lurched gracefully into motion, drawing swords at the same time Ardeth threw off his cloak, Alex bolted to safety behind a book case and Evy moved back enough to give both her and Ardeth room to manoeuvre, she planted her hands on the ground in front of her and threw her legs up, kicking one of the men who had gone after her, planting her feet and turning to block his sword as it came down towards her head.  
Alex watched in wide eyed admiration as his mother handled the sword in her hand with a proficiency he had only ever seen in his aunt.

"Whoa! Mum! Where did you learn to do that?" Alex asked excitedly.

"I have no idea." She said, truly bewildered, a split second before a man grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against a wall.  
She jerked her knee up into the man's groin then again into his stomach before punching him in the face with a right hook. "That, I learned from your father." She added as she shoved herself off the wall and grabbed another sword.

"Not bad, for a Medjai." The man named Lock-Nah drawled as he studied his dark hands boredly.  
Alex pulled desperately at the chest as one of the red clad intruders tried to take it from him.

"Let GO!" the boy demanded angrily as he threw his weight backwards, the man holding the other end of the chest swung around suddenly and Alex went flying.  
Out of self preservation Alex scampered behind another bookcase and did his best not to draw attention to himself.

"What's in the chest?" Ardeth asked as he killed an opponent.  
Lock-Nah dropped his cloak and drew his sword, advancing on Ardeth as he pulled his sword out of a dying man.

"The bracelet of Anubis!" Evy grunted.  
Lock-Nah reached him and began to attack the warrior mercilessly, keeping him on the defensive.

"They must not get the bracelet. Get it and get out of here." The dark warrior ordered.  
Alex pulled the book case he stood behind onto one of the men who tried to grab the sword Evy had managed to embed in the wood.  
Evy picked up the chest, which had been dropped in the fray, and started to run, expecting Alex to follow when the eight year old yelled out;

"MUM LOOK OUT!" she turned straight into the fist of a red clad man and she dropped, stunned into insensibility.

"EVELYN!" Ardeth yelled, turning automatically towards his friend's wife, who was being carried away.  
Lock-Nah took advantage of Ardeth's distraction, knocking Ardeth's sword out of the way before slashing at the warrior's torso. He then punched Ardeth, sending him flying and swung again with his sword.  
Ardeth grunted as he dropped over the back of the couch and rolled onto the floor, landing right on top of his wounded shoulder.

"MUM!" Alex yelled in terror as Ardeth managed to find the wall to lean up against, dodging as Lock-Nah turned and threw a wicked throwing knife, replacing his cloak and stalking out.

Isobelle met the blue eyed gaze of her tall blond friend and grimaced, resisting the urge to re-button her blouse as they checked the isolated back door of the British museum;  
There were two red clad guards standing around looking bored, one of them leaning against the stone wall fingering his high powered machine gun.  
The two women had scoped the entire building and decided that the best plan for getting into the building at night was to use the loading bay while it was so lightly guarded.  
They spent a few minutes in complete silence as they each checked their appearances and Isobelle set her nineteen fourteen .303 rifle against a tree next to her canvas satchel before staggering from the trees fearlessly, making out that she was more than a little drunk.  
She stopped in front of one of them and wiggled her fingers at him coquettishly before giggling vacantly.

"Hello." She purred flirtatiously before looking to her friend. "I told you they were handsome Amy." 'Amy' hummed her agreement as she walked up to her own target and began to fondle the barrel of his big machine gun.

"You didn't tell me they had such impressive _guns_ Belle." The blond admonished with a wicked gleam in her blue eyes.

"I didn't know." She responded breathlessly as she tossed a stray ringlet over her shoulder, careful to make the movement cause her unbuttoned blouse to gape open, revealing an alluring glimpse of the gentle swell of her generous, perfectly formed breasts."Do you think I'd be allowed to touch it?" she asked, throwing a small hitch of her breath in for good measure.

"You can ask him." Amelia responded with a breathless giggle.  
Isobelle stepped forward again, careful to lurch forward drunkenly, allowing her small hand to brush the front of his trousers.  
She smiled brightly when she saw his breath hitch, making a small delighted sound in the back of the swanlike column of her throat a split second before the two women struck, Amelia kicking her target in the groin, stepping around him as he went down, grabbing his neck and twisting it right around with a sickening crack.  
Isobelle merely drove the trapezium of her hand into his throat, shattering the bones in his neck.  
It was over faster than she could blink.  
The two women got to work immediately, dragging the hefty corpses into the bushes.

"Next time we shoot them." Isobelle grunted as she and Amelia dropped the second body on top of the first in the bushes surrounding the Museum grounds.

"Quit complaining O'Connell." Amelia snapped as she did up her blouse and tugged her pants on under her skirt before removing the offending item all together. "We got in didn't we?" Isobelle nodded as she dropped her skirt into the satchel and began strapping her various weapons on as they made their way up to the now deserted loading bay and slipping into the eerily quiet museum.

Ardeth followed O'Connell's son as the small boy ran towards his father.

"Dad! Dad!" Rick turned to face his son and scooped him up in a relieved hug as Ardeth reached them.

"Are you alright?" Rick asked, the boy nodded and his father let him slide down to the ground. The warrior touched Jonathan on the shoulder in quick acknowledgement before turning to Rick who was staring at him with a dumbstruck expression.

"O'Connell." Ardeth murmured nodding respectfully to the American.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rick demanded, seizing Ardeth and shoving him against the statue they stood beside. The warrior barely suppressed a groan as his injuries were jostled by the rough treatment "Don't scratch that, I don't care. Who the hell are those guys and where are they taking my wife?" Rick let go of Ardeth, gesticulating wildly.  
The Medjai warrior grasped his friend's shoulders and looked at him intently.

"My friend, I am not sure." Ardeth fished a black and white photograph from a pocket hidden within his robes and held it up for the older O'Connell to view. "But wherever this man is, your wife will surely be."  
The photograph was snatched from his grasp and he looked at the culprit, Alex O'Connell was looking at the photo and he cried out happily.

"I know him!" The boy exclaimed as if he was proud to be able to recognise the man responsible for his wife being taken. "He's the curator, works at the British museum!" Ardeth looked at him in astonishment.

"Are you sure?" The desert man asked, indicating the picture almost begging the boy to look again.

"You'd better believe him he spends more time there than he does at home." Rick snapped. "Come on!" The tall, stocky man turned his son away and urged him forward at a run.  
Ardeth and Jonathan joined them as they made their way around the mansion towards the silver car that was parked near the back door. "Okay. You're here, the bad guys are here, Evy's been kidnapped, let me guess."  
Rick left it open and Ardeth took the bait.

"Yes, they have once again removed the creature from his grave." The Medjai said unhappily as the four of them walked towards the vehicle.

"I don't mean to point fingers." Jonathan snapped, jabbing the golden sceptre he clung to at the warrior in agitation. "But isn't it your job to make certain that DOESN'T HAPPEN?"  
Ardeth nodded shamefaced before he continued speaking.

"The woman who is with him, she knows things." The Medjai paused for breath before continuing; "Things no living person could possibly know. She knew exactly where the creature was buried." Ardeth turned his head to look at Rick before continuing; "We were hoping she could lead us to the bracelet, she obviously did, and now they have it."  
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Alex stir uncomfortably beside his father as they all halted beside the car.

"I wouldn't get _too_ nervous _just_ yet." The boy rolled the sleeve of his coat up to reveal the bracelet of Anubis fixed to his left wrist.

"Is that gold?" Jonathan demanded, leaning in to study the bracelet more closely.  
Ardeth gripped the boy's wrist, feeling the cool metal of the bracelet beneath his palms and stared down at it in shock, anger and sympathy for the boy mingling

"When I stuck it on I saw the pyramids at Giza and then whoosh, straight across the desert to Karnak."  
Ardeth looked at the child, still shocked at the horrifying turn of events.

"By putting this on you have started a chain reaction that could bring about the next apocalypse." Ardeth said quickly. Alex gasped, his blue eyes going wide.

"You, lighten up." Rick pointed at Ardeth sternly. "You, _big_ trouble." He jabbed his finger at his son before turning to Jonathan. "You, get in the car."  
All four piled into the automobile and Rick stepped on the gas, kicking up gravel as he sped down the driveway and onto the road.

Isobelle poked her head around the corner of the huge wooden crate and ducked back just as quickly.  
She glanced at Amelia, held up two fingers and pointed towards the corner of the crate.  
She then fished out two Shuriken, held them up and grinned hollowly.

"My turn." She whispered, drawing her Ma'at to bear she got ready to bolt across the hallway to the other stack of crates she would need to duck behind.  
Giving herself the needed push she dashed across the hallway, hurling the Shuriken with lethal accuracy, hearing the squelch and thud as the knives sliced through the necks of the guards and embedded in the wall behind them. A second later she heard them fall to the floor and she nodded to Amelia before walking out of her hiding place and walking calmly down the hallway. Amelia followed, covering her with her own rifle as the smaller woman yanked her knives out of the door frame.

"You want the shotgun?" Rick asked looking at Ardeth, who was eyeing the Thompson in the trunk of his friend's car longingly.

"No, I prefer the Thompson." Ardeth responded, met by Rick's shrug as the American picked up the shotgun, draping an ammunition belt that was decorated with shells over his chest as if he were wearing a parade day sash.  
Ardeth loaded the Thompson and was reaching for a belt of ammunition as he saw a tattoo on the back of his friend's wrist.  
He stopped and stared at it for several moments before speaking; "If I were to say to you: I am a stranger travelling from the East, seeking that which is lost..." Rick froze and looked at him warily.

"Then I would reply: I am a stranger travelling from the West; it is I whom you seek. How did you-"

"It is true!" Ardeth cut him off almost excitedly ignoring the confused look Rick gave him as he grabbed the American's wrist. "You bear the sacred mark."

"What, that?" Rick asked looking at the tattoo on his right wrist. "No, that got slapped on me when I was at an orphanage in Cairo." Rick shook his head, extracting his wrist from Ardeth's grip and turned back to the trunk.

"That mark means you are protector of man, a warrior for god." Ardeth said patiently, silently willing Rick to understand. "A Medjai." Rick refused to look at Ardeth.

"Sorry, you've got the wrong guy." Ardeth decided to take one last shot, even though his words would hurt him considerably.

"Isobelle accepted her destiny." Ardeth spat the words out around the lump in his throat. Even after nine years he still choked on her name.

"Then why did she run?" Rick asked harshly, glaring at Ardeth fiercely. "She showed up on my doorstep just as Evy went into labour with Alex."

"I do not know why she ran." Ardeth said sadly, suspecting he had something to do with her reason for leaving.

Isobelle lay flat on the crate and looked down, using small waves of power to keep any straying eyes away from her and Amelia.  
Her gaze roved around the cavernous chamber, noting idly that the room had been set up to resemble an ancient Egyptian temple.  
The room was lit by firelight and armed guard roved around the room, staying out of the concentric circles of bowing and chanting men.  
In the centre of the circles stood a low stone plinth holding a roughly man-sized column of murky amber stone, precisely six feet from that a man in red knelt, acting as an altar, holding the black book of the dead on his shoulders and supporting its heavy pages with his hands. Above him stood the immaculately dressed curator of the British museum, fervently reading from the book.  
The sounds of chanting echoed through the cavernous chamber. Amelia dragged Isobelle backwards suddenly, a reflex from years of having to stay hidden more effectively, as a shirtless, swarthy skinned man flanked by two fully clothed men walked at a stately pace into the room from the very path she and Amelia had darted across to get to their current hiding place, his hands clasped in front of his midsection. Isobelle felt the blood drain from her face as she recognised her sister-in-law bound and unconscious on a wooden litter bourn by four men behind the three that had entered five paces ahead of them.

"Isn't that your brother's wife?" Amelia breathed in the Egyptian's ear.

"Yes." Isobelle bit out through clenched teeth. "Someone's about to die."

Evy struggled to shake off the chloroform induced fog, rubbing her tongue across the roof of her mouth, trying to get rid of the bitter, coppery tang. A jolt brought her fully into consciousness and she looked around herself, momentarily disoriented until she saw the curator of the British museum reading feverishly from the black book of the dead.

"Mr. Hafez?" she muttered in amazement as she watched him before allowing her gaze to wander around again, her dark brown eyes coming to a halt on a column of stone and she inhaled sharply, sitting up quickly. "They found him." She hissed in fear as she realised what Baltus Hafez was doing.

Isobelle loaded her .303 grimly as Amelia looked around the storage room.

"Feel that O'Connell?" Amelia whispered softly a minute before Isobelle froze beside her.  
The smaller woman suddenly looked around nervously, feeling the faint stirrings of power as they surrounded her.

"We're too exposed here." Isobelle whispered. "We need to move back." She shuffled backwards quietly, ducking down further.

Rick and Ardeth walked through the Egyptian exhibit slowly, following the echoes of chanting towards the back of the museum, both men cradling their weapons warily as they walked. Outside thunder rumbled ominously while inside the building Imhotep's remaining priests jerked to life, chirping and screaming, scaring the two men.

The rising sense of Ma'at swept over Isobelle, her vision became crystalline, colour leeching out until she saw everything in lines of white on a canvas of pure black, the light showing her more detail than if she'd been looking at her surroundings normally.  
The sickly sweet smell of incense assaulted her nose, this time completely untempered by the taste of the hot, wild desert she so loved.  
Her bare skin was caressed by the warmth of brightly burning flames in their sconces and a gentle breeze danced over her body, toying with her hair, beneath her feet she could feel cool sandstone and she rejoiced in the Ma'at, even if it lacked the touch of the desert she loved so well. Beneath the chanting of the mortals in the room she could hear the deep toned vibration of a single baritone voice intoning a single note steadily with another voice only one note higher twining itself around the first voice, and it was soon joined by a third voice, turning two twisting voices into three voices that were weaved together in a beautiful braid of sound.  
Her mark began to burn painfully and she shuffled forward in time to see Imhotep explode from the column of stone with an animalistic roar of triumph.

"Imhotep." She hissed as she watched the creature look around himself at his new surroundings. She was hyperaware of Amelia crawling up beside her and tapping her on the shoulder.

"What is that thing?" the blond asked, clearly shaken by the mouldering corpse before her.

"Friend of the family." Isobelle replied acerbically as Imhotep spoke in his native tongue, that Isobelle had studied with Alex in her free time. "Quiet, I'm trying to listen."

"You can understand what it is saying? Translate it for me." Amelia hissed eagerly.

"He's asking what year it is." She whispered softly to her friend who soaked up the information readily. "Hafez is saying- - Damn it!" The Egyptian swore suddenly.

"What? What's wrong?" The Englishwoman pounced on Isobelle's sudden outburst. "What did he say?"

"I'm such an idiot." The young woman ranted in a hushed tone. "I should have realised _he'd_ be here." Amelia followed Isobelle's gaze but didn't see anyone.

"Who's here? And what did Hafez say?" Amelia pushed quietly hating being ignored by Isobelle.  
They heard a door open nearby and an immaculately dressed woman walked into the 'temple'.  
Isobelle's already crystalline sight changed and she could no longer see her target, but instead, a woman with long dark hair, her breasts unbound, on her hips rested a thin gold chain that had a small bit of cloth hanging from it in front of her pubic mound. Her body was painted with bold black lines forming a geometric pattern, the squares of that pattern were filled in by gold paint, her lips were painted gold and her black eyes were lined with kohl.  
A small cobra headdress adorned her head and she walked with the proud carriage of a woman accustomed to luxury and assured of her place in the world.

"Anck-Su-Namun." Isobelle murmured thoughtfully as she watched the hated woman walk up to Imhotep.  
Beside the Egyptian Amelia hissed and raised a handgun, aiming it squarely at Anck-Su-Namun. "No!" Isobelle hissed without knowing why. "You'll bring all of them down on us." She gripped Amelia's wrist and drew it away from the woman down below them. When Isobelle looked back the spell was broken and her vision was returning to normal as the magic surrounding them faded.

"You owe me an explanation O'Connell." The woman beside her snapped in hushed tones. Isobelle tossed her head restlessly but she wasn't paying attention to the blond.

"Do not be frightened." Hafez was saying to the woman.

"I am not afraid." She replied in a clear, high voice before addressing the mummy in fluent Ancient Egyptian. **"I am Anck-Su-Namun, reincarnated."**

"**Only in body."** Imhotep purred, reaching out and running his rotted fingers through the long almost black strands. **"But soon, I shall bring your soul back from the underworld, and our love shall once again be whole."**  
On the balcony above them all, Rick disappeared behind a pillar and Isobelle caught sight of him sneaking behind several crates, trying to get closer to his wife.  
Hafez and the swarthy skinned man who had led the procession carrying Evy into the room went over to a chest and the swarthy skinned man picked up a glass syringe of clear liquid, running the needle tip over it.  
Isobelle frowned when she saw smoke coming up from the lid of the chest and the man opened it reverently, Hafez pulled a baseball trophy out of the chest, looking bewildered and the dark skinned man muttered something, leaning forward looking decidedly unimpressed. Isobelle chuckled turning her gaze back to Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun.

"**I have a gift for you."** The woman murmured conspiratorially to the creature. They both turned to look directly at Evy.

"**Her?"** the creature hissed darkly.  
Isobelle glanced at a clearly nervous Evy.

"**I knew it would please you to watch her die."**Anck-Su-Namun preened happily when Imhotep showed her his appreciation with an adoring look.  
She then snapped her fingers and the men surrounding Evy's bier rose, grabbing her to hold her in place as she struggled to get away from them while they carried the litter to a roaring fire.  
Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun walked over to where they could better watch as Evy burned.

"**The underworld awaits you."** Imhotep sneered at the Englishwoman.

"You wait!" Evy declared valiantly as she searched for a way to get out of burning alive. "I'll put you in your grave again!" Hafez was standing behind her suddenly as she struggled to get free of the ropes and constraining hands.

"Our thinking was not if we put you in your grave first." The curator gloated evilly.  
Imhotep pointed at Evy authoritatively and spoke.

"Burn her!" Anck-Su-Namun translated his words gleefully.

"You bastar - - ARGH!" Evy yelled as her captors raised the platform preparing to tip her into the inferno. Isobelle leapt up from her hiding place, shooting each of the men holding the litter at the same time Rick leapt through the flames, landing on one end of it and grabbing his wife who practically threw herself over his shoulder with an ecstatic; "RICK!" Isobelle's brother hightailed it away from them as Ardeth opened fire on the men surrounding the couple.  
Amelia covered Isobelle as the smaller woman leapt fearlessly into the fray before diving behind cover again so she could reload.  
In front of her, hiding behind some more crates, Rick cut Evy's bonds. Isobelle pulled out a revolver out and shot six different men killing them with each bullet before dropping back behind her crate.  
The swarthy skinned man grabbed a big machine gun and threw it to Anck-Su-Namun.

"Meela!" he yelled, the woman snatched the high powered weapon out of the air and started firing at Ardeth.

"Not my man you bitch." Isobelle snarled and fired at her, Imhotep flicked his wrist and the bullet pinged away, slamming through someone else. Rick jumped around is crate and fired while Isobelle made a dash for the pair, throwing a burst of power behind her to propel herself forward behind the crate.

"**YOU!"** Imhotep yelled angrily when he saw Rick, Isobelle snorted when she heard Rick fire, knowing he'd shot Imhotep to annoy the creature.

"That's just going to make getting out of here harder for us you do know that don't you?" she called to her brash American older brother.

"No harm in trying." Rick responded as he rejoined her behind the crate.  
Isobelle snapped the chamber of her rifle shut and stepped out, covering Amelia as she dashed towards them.  
A stray bullet hit the blond and she went down, not moving. Isobelle searched the woman's body for signs of life but found none. Rick nodded to his wife and sister, handing Evy a handgun before the three of them left their cover and made a backwards dash for the stairs.  
Isobelle went up first, firing her revolver at the people now below her. A stray bullet clipped her upper arm and she gasped at the biting pain that tore through her arm. Evy pushed past her, running for the next set of stairs they had to go up.  
Isobelle paused to make certain her brother got up the stairs. "Go, NOW!" he ordered and the siblings bolted up the stairs, met by Ardeth and Evy at the second landing. Around her magic swelled and she stumbled on the last step, caught at the last second by Ardeth, who manhandled her to the top of the stairs while she recovered from the huge swell of magic that assaulted her. She looked down to see Imhotep smirking at her arrogantly. There was an explosion in the chamber as Isobelle and Ardeth fired down at the people below and Imhotep turned, snatching up an urn, releasing his Ma'at, chanting in Ancient Egyptian.

"**Collect your bones, gather your limbs."** Anck-Su-Namun, or was it Meela? Twisted to look at Imhotep and then turned back to glare coldly up at the O'Connells and Ardeth two floors above them. **"Shake the earth from your flesh! YOUR MASTER IS HERE!"** Isobelle, Ardeth, Rick and Evy paused long enough to see four separate streams of black magic dive out of the urn and form four Egyptian soldiers.

"Oh no, not these guys again!" Rick complained as they stepped back from the railing and ran for all they were worth.

"**DESTROY THEM!"** Imhotep yelled as the four of them raced towards the front doors of the museum.


	3. Chapter 2 Battle on the bus

**I haven't forgotten you guys. I had a brief bout of writer's block. Here is chapter two i hope you love it.**

Isobelle ran ahead of the others, short barrel revolver in hand.  
She spotted one door and veered towards it, yelling at the others to follow her.  
Two guards burst into the building and she calmly shot them, squeezing the trigger so fast they were almost one shot, each bullet finding its mark.  
The four of them reached the doors and Isobelle ran out first, firing without looking at the guards who were turning towards them and Ardeth kept pace with her easily.  
Rick and Evy brought up the rear and Evy turned back suddenly, running towards a bench that was near the doors they had just run through and started dragging the heavy piece of furniture in front of the doors.

"Honey, what are you doing?" Rick asked as he went back for his wife.  
Isobelle paused and covered her family with her rifle, noting that Ardeth did the same thing with the Thompson in his hands.

"These guys don't use doors." Isobelle called to her sister-in-law as she was dragged away from the building by Rick.  
They came around the massive stone staircase that led up to the impressive double doors that allowed the primary entrance to the museum running towards Rick's empty car.

"Where the hell's Jonathan?" Rick yelled in irritation.

"You brought Jonathan?" Isobelle demanded as a massive double-decker bus pulled up in the almost empty parking lot.  
Isobelle raised an eyebrow when she saw her nephew and Jonathan on the bus with Jonathan driving it.  
"There he is!" she pointed at the ponce acerbically as the four people skidded to a halt beside the bus.

"Alex!" Evy yelled ecstatically and ran to the end of the bus followed closely by Ardeth.

"What's the matter with my car?" Rick demanded of his brother-in-law incredulously.

"I was forced to find an alternative means of transportation." Jonathan replied vaguely and Isobelle raised her eyebrow, twisting to look behind them for signs of pursuit.

"A BOUBLE-DECKER BUS?" Rick yelled in credulously.

"It was his idea!" Jonathan pointed at his outraged nephew.

"WAS NOT!" The boy shouted angrily

"Was too!" Jonathan snapped back.

"Was not!" Isobelle turned to glare at the pair.

"Was too!"

"JUST GO!" the small woman snapped as she and her older brother ran for the back of the bus.

"Was NOT!" Alex could be heard yelling shrilly as his mother wrapped her arms around him and looking out the window fearfully.  
The O'Connell siblings jumped onto the bus as Jonathan turned the laborious vehicle towards the road and stepped on the accelerator.  
She met Ardeth's indecipherable gaze and turned her attention to watching the road behind them, one small hand gripping her brother's shirt while he leaned out of the bus, watching behind them just as intently as she did.  
He held onto a pole that had been put onto the entrance of the bus for convenience and she let go, reloading her rifle as the four resurrected mummies burst through the stone wall and ran after the bus, two of them going straight over Rick's car and crushing it.

"NO, NO, NO! NOT MY CAR!" He groaned in horror, watching helplessly as the vehicle was destroyed. "Oh I hate mummies."  
He then growled venomously and the small Egyptian patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"Glad to see me now?" Ardeth asked earnestly.  
Rick made a face at the warrior as he stepped past him to go up to the top of the staircase.

"Just like old times huh?" Isobelle grinned as she checked her revolvers, looking up to meet the warrior's dark glare.

"Get up that end of the bus." Ardeth ordered tersely as he shoved her in the general direction of her family.  
She obeyed instantly, bowing to his authority without question.

"Aunt Isobelle!" Alex exclaimed happily in spite of the dire situation they were in, throwing his arms around her affectionately.  
She dropped her arm around his shoulders with a grin down at him before looking back up at where Ardeth was watching their tails, standing fiercely, every inch the accomplished Medjai warrior and Chieftain's son she knew him to be.

"Hello Alex. You'll have to regale me with tales of your latest misadventures when we have a chance to sit down and talk." She smiled at her nephew before disentangling herself from his grasp and sneaking down to the other end of the bus, getting onto a seat out of Ardeth's sight.  
She winked at her nephew in the hopes of lightening the situation.  
It worked, he giggled at her, but even where she sat, she could clearly see the fear in his eyes.  
Evy was watching her as well, grinning when the older woman realised what the younger Egyptian woman was trying to do for her nephew.

Isobelle began making faces and puffing her chest out, making a silent parody of Ardeth ordering her around and the boy laughed out loud, making Ardeth turn around and the small woman ducked back quickly with a cheeky grin on her face.  
Ardeth glared at the boy and Evy as they both stood there with grins on their faces.  
Isobelle held a finger up to her lips, her eyes twinkling delightedly.  
Ardeth turned back around and she began with her ridiculous behaviour, hiding again when Ardeth turned to find out why Alex and Evy were laughing.

Ardeth twisted suddenly, opening fire on the corpse that had suddenly tried to swing onto the bus and Isobelle suddenly turned serious, cocking her rifle.  
She breathed a sigh of relief when it fell away from them.  
She felt the force of Ardeth's glare when he moved back to reload but she ignored it, stepping up to take his place at the back of the bus.

"Get back up the other end of the bus with Evelyn." He snapped, earning a glare from her.  
He met her black gaze without flinching; Isobelle was the first to look away. "Now." He growled and she straightened perceptibly.

"Not this time Ardeth Bay." She hissed, turning to face him fully, her black eyes shooting daggers. "I am not one of your warriors to order around."  
He looked taken aback at her sudden defiance of his orders but he refused to back down.

"_You are the one who fled our union Isobelle."_ He lashed out spitefully and she flinched. _"Forgive me if I doubt your courage now."_  
She opened her mouth to retort but was flung onto the stairwell and knocked senseless by the top half of the corpse that had struck her side on.  
Ardeth's eyes widened and he raised the gun in his hands, only to have it slapped from his hands and then he himself was thrown into the window of the bus, hitting his head, he fell down and was picked up by the creature and slammed into the window again before being thrown back against the opposite window.  
Isobelle grabbed the butt of her rifle and shot the second mummy that tried to get onto the bus, narrowly missing it.  
She managed to dive below its grasping arms and get the Thompson that had been forgotten by Ardeth as he struggled with the first mummy, well, half mummy.  
The woman glared at the undead creature and fired at it, spending the entire magazine as well as a huge portion of her own life energy on destroying the thing. Above her Ardeth grunted and she abandoned the Thompson, swinging to her feet and attacking the half creature, punching its ribs while Ardeth got to his feet to join in the attack.  
The mummy picked her up by her throat, gripping her tightly she frantically searched for the floor of the bus with her feet, and holding onto its wrist in a vain attempt at relieving the pressure on her throat.  
The mummy dragged her close and roared in her face before throwing her backwards to the end of the bus and turning on Ardeth, Isobelle frantically drank in precious lungful after lungful of air while she rolled to her knees, getting ready to join in the fight again.  
Evy and Alex screamed as it got too close to them and Ardeth knocked it backwards.  
He looked to Isobelle in concern as she stayed on her knees, impatiently waiting out a coughing fit and the creature rose up again, holding a hand up and staring at it.  
Isobelle tried to stand up when she saw its fingernails lengthen dramatically. "Argh!" Ardeth yelled with wide eyes as it lashed out and scratched his arm, knocking him away from it.

"TURN! TURN! TURN! JONATHAN TURN!" Evy yelled as Ardeth got up again, prepared to fight it, getting thrown to the side and Isobelle found herself falling from the bus as it careened wildly around a corner.  
The woman barely latched onto the edge of the bus with her right hand, the cut on her arm from the bullet that had clipped her inside the museum protesting loudly.

"Damn it Jonathan!" she croaked as she tried to pull herself back into the bus.

"NO! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" she heard him yell before the behemoth of a vehicle swerved again, giving her the momentum she needed to swing herself back into the bus.  
She saw Ardeth struggling with the mummy and was about to lurch to her feet to help him when she saw Evy swing Rick's shotgun up and wait for an opening.  
The creature scratched Ardeth's shoulder and she took the opportunity to push him down with her Ma'at, giving her sister-in-law the opening she needed.  
The creature leaned over Ardeth, preparing to rip his throat out.

"HURRY UP EVY!" Isobelle tried to yell past her bruised throat.

"ARGH!" Ardeth shouted again and Evy shot the mummy ruthlessly, driving it back Isobelle stayed down when she saw it grab the support rails above its head but Evy shot it again, sending it through the back window and Isobelle stood up, pulling her short barrel revolver out and shooting it six more times until it exploded into nothingness.

"LOOK OUT!" Alex screamed as Jonathan swerved dangerously around another corner and Isobelle fell against the side of the bus, landing on her injured arm with a pain-filled grunt.  
She closed her eyes breathing heavily snapping them open again when she heard a grating sound as Jonathan drove under an overhang that was too low for the bus to ordinarily go under, taking the top of the bus off before he drove onto London Bridge and pulled to a stop.

"Great driving Uncle Jon." Alex congratulated his uncle with a hug while Isobelle pulled her bruised frame up and limped over to where Ardeth was half reclined on one of the bus seats, breathing heavily.  
She kicked his shin half- heartedly before dropping down beside him gracelessly.

"Yeah." Jonathan responded to Alex sounding dazed.  
Rick jumped down and staggered to the end where everyone else was congregated, leaning against the wall that separated the driver's seat from the rest of the bus.

"You alright?" The American asked looking at the Medjai warrior and his little sister where they half sat and half lay on the bus seat.

"This was my first bus ride." Ardeth responded in an attempt at humour.

"Remind me never to get into a vehicle with Jonathan behind the wheel ever again." Isobelle croaked at the same time, pushing herself up from the seat and shoving Ardeth's robe out of the way. "Let me look at these scratches."  
She added, already leaning over them.  
Evy looked at Rick and beckoned him closer and he shoved himself towards her.

"What would I do without you?" she whispered huskily and Isobelle glanced at her nephew who was flouncing away from his parents in disgust, refusing point blank to look at his aunt and the Medjai where they sat.

"Jeez, get a room." He muttered as he walked.

"Are all librarians this much trouble?" Rick was asking as Isobelle turned her attention back to the cuts on Ardeth's arm and shoulders.

"_You are bleeding."_ Ardeth said after several minutes, his black eyes fixed on the red splotch of blood on her right upper arm.  
She shrugged it off, turning her attention to the nasty looking cut over his ribcage.

"_Bullet kissed me."_ She whispered huskily. _"It is nothing."_ Ardeth glared at her darkly but she refused to meet his gaze, leaning low over his chest and blowing gently on each of the cuts that laced his muscular torso.  
She had just finished when there was a commotion down the other end of the bus; Everyone on the bus looked towards in time to see Alex being bundled out of the bus and into a waiting car.

"LET ME GO!" The boy yelled indignantly.

"ALEX!" The O'Connells yelled urgently, all three of them sprinting after the boy.  
Ardeth followed after them at a slower pace, stopping beside Isobelle when she threw her hands into the air, palms facing outwards and her fingers splayed wide, beneath them the river answered her call, shooting after the quickly escaping car, splashing harmlessly to the ground as she was dragged into a battle of wills with another witch.  
The effort of keeping the woman out of her mind drove The Egyptian to her knees. The witch attacking her struck again and again, chipping away at Isobelle's mental shields until she was able to swarm in, Isobelle gritted her teeth, heedless of the blood trickling from her nose as she fought back, stabbing out with her mind in a single lethal bolt.  
She felt the witch scream in pain as the small woman took over, showing the woman horror after horror.

Hafez watched in shock as the woman began babbling hysterically.

"PLEASE!" she begged. "Please make it stop, I beg of you." The imaculately dressed man watched her crying and ripping at her skin. "GET IT OUT OF ME!" she screamed in pain. "I'll do anything, just don't let it kill me! Have compassion please."  
He watched as one of his men raised a gun and pulled the trigger coldly.

"NO!" Isobelle screamed as she snapped back to her own mind, the suddenness of her abrupt change in surroundings doubling her over.  
She looked up in time to see her brother sliding down from the raised bridge tears streaming openly down his face.  
She slammed her fist ineffectually on the ground as she swallowed a helpless shriek of frustration.  
Pulling herself to her feet she staggered over to her brother swallowing back tears.  
"I'm sorry Rick." She lamented as Evy joined them.

"It's not your fault Asha." Rick muttered brokenly as he and Evy wrapped their arms around each other comfortingly.  
The bridge began to lower itself and Isobelle looked over to the gatehouse to see Jonathan emerging from it looking as dejected as she felt.  
Isobelle was aware of Ardeth standing behind her and she turned into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder, needing the contact desperately.

"Please, do not fear for your son my friends." Ardeth spoke to the couple standing before him clinging to each other as he unconsciously smoothed Isobelle's curls. "They cannot hurt him for he wears the bracelet of Anubis."  
Isobelle's head shot up and she looked at him in horror, looking between her brother and the warrior.

"Alex is wearing the bracelet?" Both women demanded of Rick fearfully.

"When he put it on he said he saw the pyramids at Giza and then he saw the temple at Karnak." Rick answered, his blue eyed gaze locked firmly with his wife's as he said this.

"Yes, and when they reach Karnak, the bracelet will show him the next step of the journey." Ardeth added.  
Evy looked down then, thoughtfully, and Isobelle watched her sister-in-law closely.

"If we don't get to Karnak before them we won't have any idea where to look for him next." The taller woman fretted, her voice trembling.  
Rick met Isobelle's dark eyes thoughtfully and she frowned.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked suspiciously.  
He flashed her a quick grin and she grimaced.

"It seems to me, like we need a magic carpet." He mused.  
Jonathan, Ardeth and Evy looked between the siblings in askance but neither of them said anything.


	4. Chapter 3 The chase begins

**Here it is, chapter three. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it.**

The train rocked slightly as it clattered along the tracks. Alex kicked and struggled as he was dragged by Lock-Nah through the train.  
The swarthy skinned man picked the boy up and he grunted as he was carried through a doorway to see Mr. Hafez talking to a dark haired woman who was holding the book of the dead.

"Hey!" he exclaimed brightly when he saw the thick black tome. "The book of the dead!"  
The woman stood up looking at him as he was set on his feet.

"What a bright little child." She said, clearly impressed by his knowledge.  
She walked over to him and knelt down so she was his height. "Your mother must be missing you terribly."  
Alex looked at her warily as she spoke to him. "If you wish to see her again you'd better behave."

"Lady, I don't behave for my parents." Alex scoffed at her. "What makes you think I'm going to do it for you?"

"Silence!" Lock-Nah snapped, shaking the boy in censure.

"Because your parents wouldn't slip poisonous snakes into your bed."  
She gripped his chin and planted a small kiss on his cheek. "While you were sleeping..." she trailed off suggestively and Alex felt his blue eyes go wide.

"Lord Imhotep wishes to meet the boy." Hafez announced suddenly as he stared at Alex coldly from where he sat.

"Now we shall see how brave you are." Lock-Nah chuckled cruelly as he shoved the boy towards the other end of the car.

"Hey! Watch the suit!" Alex grumbled indignantly, receiving no reply from the man who had been assigned to be his baby-sitter.  
The two of them made it with little incident to a car that had been arranged to resemble an Egyptian temple.  
The eight year old looked around, seeing a tall man in black robes and a mask when the stranger turned around to face him, walking forward in even slow steps.

"**I know you can understand me little one. So listen carefully because..."** He started in ancient Egyptian before switching to obviously accented English; "It is you who are the chosen one, you who will take me to Ahm Shere."

"What if I don't?" Alex asked nervously. "What if I get a little, lost?"  
The masked man in front of him laughed softly.

"You have strength little one, you are your father's son." He then admitted quietly. "But I know something you don't"  
The man standing before him crouched down and Alex felt his hand lifted by an unseen hand as the man before him waved his hand upwards. "This bracelet is a gift and a curse.  
"The sands of time have already begun to pour against you."  
He held up an hourglass decorated with gold cobras, turning it over so that the sand poured from the top to the bottom and he set it on a table beside them.

"Yeah, yeah, I already heard this part, from the minute I put the bracelet on, seven days do I have until the scorpion king wakes up." Alex rolled his eyes as he spoke.

"Did you also hear that if you do not enter the pyramid before the sun hits it on that very morning that the bracelet will suck the life out of you?" The man asked quietly, sounding completely serious.

"That part I missed." Alex replied honestly before exclaiming; "Hey wait a minute! That means I only have five days left!"

"Then I believe it would be best if we do not get lost, don't you?" The man pointed out plainly.

"My dad is going to kick your arse." Alex threatened him, using that as a last line of defence like he always did at school, hoping it would work on this man.  
He watched as the strange man reached up slowly and removed his mask, revealing the face of a corpse that looked to be three thousand years old at least.  
The young boy gasped and drew back quickly as the corpse grinned coldly

"I do not think so." He murmured and raised his hand in a swift, curt gesture and Lock-Nah dragged Alex out of the train carriage, taking him to the carriage that had been set aside for Alex and his guards.  
On the way they passed a tall, slender blond woman that Alex recognised.

"Miss Wilkins?" Alex asked in surprise when he saw her. "What are you doing here?"  
She glared down at him coldly before looking up at Lock-Nah with adoration on her pretty face.

"When do you get a break from watching the _brat_?" she asked the swarthy skinned man.

"When Lord Imhotep allows it." He replied, reaching out and grasping her around the neck, seeming almost affectionate towards Isobelle's friend.  
She smiled up at him, stepping forward and pressing herself against him vulgarly, unable to resist, Alex made retching noises, looking away from them in the disgust only a child could pull off with any flair.

"This is the magic carpet?" Evy asked as the four people piled out of the pale yellow automobile and walking towards the front wall of what had once been a Saracen villa.  
The faded white words on the front of it boasted in both English and Arabic that it was the magic carpet airways.

"Yes." Isobelle came abreast of her brother and grinned fondly.

"We'll be fine." Rick assured his doubtful wife.

"He's a professional." Isobelle added and the three of them walked forward together towards the ruins at the same time a short, wiry, dark-skinned man wearing tan coloured clothes, a black eye patch and a pilots hat, the goggles sitting on his head.  
Isobelle leaned closer to her brother to whisper in his ear; "When did he lose his eye?"  
The American glanced at her and shrugged before looking at the man who was humming, but happened to glance up and freeze with a look of pure terror on his face when he saw the O'Connell siblings standing in front of him together.

"IZZY!" Rick roared brightly throwing his arms wide Isobelle waved with a grin at the dark skinned man and he gasped before turning tail and bolting inside the grounds of the villa.  
"Hey!" The American protested when they clearly heard several bolts being thrown.

"He definitely remembers you." Evy remarked dryly, Isobelle shrugged making a mockery of an innocent face.

"He's just a little shy." Rick excused the pilot with a shrug. "Jonathan, get our bags."  
He threw at his brother-in-law as the pom came abreast of him.

"Oh, my hands are full." Jonathan huffed, brandishing the sceptre in his hands and Rick snatched it quickly.

"NOW!" The American snapped and Jonathan nodded, turning back towards the vehicle.

"Right, I'll go get the bags." He amended quickly as he walked back to the vehicle.

"I'll deal with the flight details." Rick said as he and his sister pulled guns out in twin motions and smoothly shooting the lock.

"Honey, you're not a subtle man." Evy cajoled as she walked towards the doors.

"We don't have time for subtle." The two siblings said in unison before turning and kicking the doors in.  
Izzy was muttering and running down the stairs of the ruined villa.

"He doesn't look happy to see you." Evy remarked when they saw him.

"He's never turned us down yet." Isobelle shrugged as she watched Izzy running away from them.

"Izzy, come here." Rick ordered as he chased after the short black man, followed closely by Isobelle and Evy.

"Forget it O'Connells." Izzy snapped walking up to a desk that had a sleeping man sitting at it. "Every time I hook up with either of you I get shot." He picked up several navigation charts, moving the snoring man's head out of the way to pick up another one and then walking down to a lean-to that had been set up for the sole purpose of providing shade.  
"Last time I got shot in the arse. I'm in mourning for my arse!  
"And this time there's two of you." He threw over his shoulder as he practically ran from the siblings. "Remember that bank job in Marrakesh?"

"Yup!" Isobelle grinned cheekily as she recalled the bank job.

"Bank job?" Evy asked suspiciously looking between Isobelle and Rick.

"It's not like it sounds." Rick tried.

"Ah, it's _exactly_ how it sounds." Isobelle and Izzy both refuted, glaring at him together.

"What happened to taking my side?" Rick demanded glaring at his sister.  
She shrugged as Izzy told his side of the story;

"I'm flying high; _hiding_ in the sun, the white boy here flags me down so I fly in _low_ for the pick up."  
Isobelle leaned against a table under the lean-to, a huge grin on her small face.  
"Next thing you know, I get_ shot_! I'm lying in the middle of the road with my spleen hanging out and I see him waltzing up with some belly dancer girl!" Izzy finished spectacularly.

"Belly dancer girl?" Evy repeated angrily and Isobelle sighed in mock nostalgia.

"I remember her so well." The young woman said, looking up with a dreamy expression on her face.  
Rick stiffened and glared at Izzy before looking at his wife apologetically.

"Izzy I think you and I should talk!" Evy pointed at the man who twisted around to look at her.

"As long as I don't get shot." Isobelle stifled a giggle and Rick straightened up.

"Quit your whining. You're going to get paid this time." The taller American threw a wad of cash at the short, wiry black man.  
Izzy caught it and looked at it reverently before turning back to Rick.

"O'Connell, have you looked around here any?" He demanded as he pocketed the cash.  
"What do I need money for? What the hell am I going to spend it on?"  
Isobelle rolled her dark eyes and waved at a man who was watching them while he sat in his bath before he turned back to his paper.

"I'm gonna keep this short, my little boy's out there." Rick said waving Jonathan's sceptre in front Izzy's eye. "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get him back."  
Isobelle and Rick both watched the man's eye follow the path Rick cut with the sceptre with interest.

"O'Connell, you give me that golden stick there and you shave my head wax my legs and use me for a surfboard."  
Rick threw the sceptre into his hands and Isobelle frowned.

"Didn't we do that in Tripoli?" The small woman asked wryly.  
Izzy looked at her shyly before turning to admire the ornate sceptre in his hands.

"When did you lose your eye?" Rick asked indicating the patch over Izzy's left eye.  
The man laughed as he lifted up the patch, revealing his other eye, still in perfect condition.

"Oh, I didn't, I just thought it made me look more dashing." Isobelle made a disgusted sound as Rick grabbed the patch and ripped it off and hurling it at the ground.

"Come on, get to work." Rick snapped, shoving Izzy towards where Isobelle remembered the planes being stored when not in use.  
Isobelle walked up to stand beside her sister-in-law while they waited patiently.

"The belly dancer girl is a friend of mine." Isobelle explained to the Englishwoman. "Rick busted her out of a fix in Marrakesh; she now runs a boarding house in Oxford."  
Evy glared at Isobelle in censure.  
"It was five years before you." Isobelle shrugged quickly and Evy looked away from the siblings. "I'm going to see if I can get a hold of Alex again." Isobelle called to her brother as she sat down cross legged and closed her eyes.  
The ruined villa melted away and she found herself standing in a moving train, the Egyptian desert flying past.  
She was aware of the steady motion of the train and Alex sitting beside her, looking very shadowy.

"Am I dreaming Aunty?" Alex asked beside her, sounding so distant.

"Yes Alex." She said softly, wrapping her arm around him. "You're dreaming, but there is something I need you to do."  
Alex rested his head on her shoulder and snuggled closer to her. "Alex, I need you to leave something for us to be able to find you."  
Alex nodded tiredly. "We are coming for you okay Alex. I promise you that we will find you."

"They don't let me sleep; they say I can't be allowed to sleep in case you try to find me on the dream path." Alex mumbled quietly. "What's a dream path?"

"It's a series of walkways that connect everyone's dreams together. If someone knows how they can walk along it." Isobelle explained quietly.

"Oh. I have to tell you something Aunt Isobelle." The boy said suddenly, jerking up.

"If it's about Imhotep, do not worry Alex, I already know, we all do." Isobelle pre empted but the boy was shaking his head.

"No Aunty. It's about-" He disappeared suddenly and Isobelle was sitting at the Magic Carpet Airways with Rick, Jonathan, Evy and Izzy staring at her intently.  
She sighed and got up, stretching her stiff limbs without saying a word.

"We're ready to depart." Izzy said after several minutes.

"Well?" Rick asked his sister sceptically.

"I got through." She said softly. "They're doing what they can to keep him awake so that I can't try to get into his dreams." Rick nodded sadly and looked away.  
Isobelle took a shaky breath and began to follow her brother around to the runway.  
Izzy kept pace with Evy while Jonathan walked between Isobelle and Rick.

"You're not exactly catching me at my best." Izzy attempted to charm Evy as they all walked and Isobelle almost started laughing.

"I'm sure I am." Evy said warmly as she walked to catch up with her brother and the O'Connell siblings.  
Ahead of them several horses were lined up, their riders watching the travellers silently.  
Isobelle brightened considerably when she recognised one rider as he dismounted.

"Ardeth!" she shouted jubilantly, running to the Medjai warrior, he turned and wrapped his arms around her in a rare, public display of affection before he handed the reins of his horse to his father, Ali Bay.  
The younger warrior kept his arm wrapped securely around the small woman as the two made their way over to the westerners.

"These are the commanders of the twelve tribes of the Medjai." He said as he turned around to hold his gloved hand out. "Horus!" Isobelle smiled when she saw the small falcon with silky, mottled feathers wing his way towards the Medjai warrior.  
She reached up and gently stroked the fierce bird's feathers lovingly.

"Pet bird." Jonathan pointed at Horus with a smile.

"My best and most clever friend, he will let the commanders know of our progress so that we may follow." Jonathan nodded his head indulgently, flinching when Isobelle glared at him.  
She held her hand out to Horus and the bird tried to hop onto her dainty wrist, but was held back by the tether Ardeth held tightly between his thumb and forefinger.

"You tethered him." Isobelle asked sadly and Ardeth shrugged and turned back to face the Medjai commanders.

"Allah Hou-Mana!" he raised his hand from where it rested on Isobelle's hip.  
The small Egyptian raised her hand in farewell as the men all repeated what Ardeth had said and rode off into the desert.  
"If the Army of Anubis arises, they will do all they can to stop it."  
They all turned to walk towards the air field, Ardeth finally allowing Horus to jump onto Isobelle's wrist.

"Why did you tether him?" she asked as she untied the leather straps that were attached to the bird's legs.

"Because he only ever paid any heed to you and we were trying to keep him safe." Ardeth murmured softly.

"Are you sure he's reliable?" Evy asked the siblings as they all walked.

"Sure he's reliable." Rick assured Evy with certainty.

"Ish." Isobelle threw in dryly shrugging when Rick glared at her.  
They rounded a corner and Isobelle's eyebrows shot up.

"It's a balloon!" Rick exclaimed angrily, throwing his arms wide in exasperation.

"It's a dirigible." Izzy corrected indignantly as he came up to them.

"Where's your aeroplane?" Isobelle asked curiously as she handed Horus back to Ardeth.

"Aeroplanes are a thing of the past." Izzy waved his hand negligently

"Izzy, you were right." Rick snapped, already reaching for his gun.

"I was?" the short, dark skinned man asked with a frown.

"Yeah." Rick said as he pulled it out of its holster. "You're getting shot." Isobelle dived on her brother's gun hand.

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! She's faster than she looks!" Izzy said drawing back quickly. "And she's quiet. Real quiet, which is perfect for sneaking up on people."  
Isobelle turned and looked at Izzy who was flicking his eyes between her and her brother nervously. "Unless of course we go with your approach." The swarthy man said as he came to a halt before the siblings. "Barging in, guns blazing and getting your friends shot in the arse!" Izzy glared pointedly at Isobelle as he said that very last part.

"My bad." Isobelle looked down as Rick looked at Evy and shrugged, putting his gun away.  
Jonathan, Rick and Evy walked up to the balloon-like contraption and Isobelle took Horus back from Ardeth.

"Why can't you people ever keep your feet on the ground?" he asked rhetorically as he eyed the dirigible with wary disgust.

"At least we'll all fit in that horrid contraption." Isobelle shrugged before following the others.


	5. Chapter 4 Karnak

**hey guys. for the students who are taking time out to read my work, I would prefer it if you got your homework and assignments out of the way before reading my story. Just remember that being a highschool drop out isn't really conducive to going places in life.**

**Please enjoy and feel free to review **

They reached Giza by late afternoon and Isobelle had since shucked her robe, favouring the light-weight shirt she was wearing underneath it.  
She stood at the edge of the shallow boat they rode in, watching the sun as it set dramatically behind the dunes, the Giza plateau shrinking into the distance behind them.  
She was aware of the others talking quietly as they ate but her mind wasn't entirely with them.

"Try to get some sleep soon Alex." She murmured softly not reacting when she sensed her brother standing behind her.

"I want to have a look at that cut on your arm." He informed her as he stepped up to her left side and waved a bottle of anti-sceptic.

"No need." She replied, already rolling up her sleeve to reveal a faint pink scar against flawless ivory skin. "I heal so quickly now that it doesn't matter." Rick grabbed her arm and inspected it closely, an expression of disbelief on his face.

"How is that possible?" Rick demanded incredulously of his sister as he released her.  
Wordlessly she waved her wrist in front of him, displaying the small, perfectly formed birthmark imprinted there.

"Remember when I went with Ardeth back to his tribe?" she asked her older brother softly.

"Yeah?"

"A huge part of my time with them was spent leaning about my heritage and the responsibilities that come with being able and knowing how to wield Ma'at. Swift healing is one of the side effects of dabbling in any form of magic." She explained softly as she rolled her sleeve back down, effectively hiding the scar and the birthmark.  
"Adara, Ardeth's mother, still teaches me, it's just over a distance and so much harder for me to show her that I get what she's teaching me now." The small Egyptian smiled sadly as she looked down.  
The siblings stood in companionable silence until the sun disappeared below the horizon and Rick left Isobelle to her musings.

Alex slumped in the seat exhaustedly, barely staying awake as he stared down Lock-Nah.  
The cruel man seemed to be more sympathetic to him as they waited for Amelia to leave the car so Alex could get a little sleep.

"Make certain he stays awake." The tall blond said suddenly as she glared at Alex who straightened, barely stifling a yawn before she stalked out of the car.  
Lock-Nah watched her until she disappeared through another doorway and then he sat down again and nodded to the boy who promptly fell into an exhausted sleep.

"Aunt Isobelle?" The boy asked quietly as he looked around the tent he found himself standing in.

"No child, I am not your aunt." The woman who stepped into his line of sight was elderly, her dark eyes reminding Alex of the desert man that had shown up in Alex's home when his world was turned upside down. "The children of Osiris are all searching for you Alex. None more fervently than your aunt however." She smiled warmly and Alex relaxed a little.

"Why aren't I dreaming about her this time?" The boy asked suddenly. "And what's a child of Osiris? How many people are looking for me?" The woman laughed softly and Isobelle appeared beside him in the tent.

"All of the Medjai, your uncle and parents and of course me." Isobelle said softly as she dropped her arm around his shoulder comfortingly.  
"Be brave young Alex." She smiled at him sadly. "We will try to meet you at Karnak. If we can't then we will try to catch up with you."

"Okay." The boy said as he hugged his aunt back tightly. "I have to tell you something about M-" He was shaken awake a split second before Amelia walked back into the room, remnants of the strange dream fogging his mind as he struggled to remember where he was.  
He looked at Amelia unhappily when she dropped a tray of food in front of him before she disappeared from view again.  
He looked down to see a hunk of stale bread and a lump of cheese and wrinkled his nose in disgust but ate it in silence.

Isobelle frowned as she picked at her breakfast, struggling to figure out what Alex was trying to tell her.  
Adara Bay had joined forces with the younger woman to try to reach him but there was only so much the two women could do together.

"Any luck last night?" Rick asked suddenly and Isobelle started violently.

"Briefly." Isobelle mumbled dejectedly. "I'll keep trying."  
Rick and Evy both nodded and went to stand at the prow of the airship.

"_We need to talk Isobelle."_ Ardeth said softly, ignoring the look Jonathan gave him.

"_I know Ardeth."_ She replied as she continued to pick at her breakfast. _"I left because I was scared."_

"_What could have happened that frightened you?"_ Ardeth asked gently.

"_I was scared I would not be a good enough wife for you, that I could not be the woman you would need to have at your side when you become Commander."_ She looked up at him then, willing him to understand.

"_Is it because of what happened when you were fourteen?"_ Isobelle started violently when he said this.

"_How do you know? I never told anyone."_ She looked away from him in shame.

"_Mother told me that something had happened, but she either would not or could not tell me what it was."_ Ardeth shrugged his shoulders turning to watch the desert fly by beside them. _"She told me it was up to you to tell me what it was that had happened."_ Isobelle took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"_I was raped when I was fourteen by my cousin because he hated me that much."_ She whispered in a rush, breathing out audibly as she did.  
Ardeth sat back and studied her delicate features sympathetically. _"I don't need your pity. It was thirteen years ago."_ She snapped before getting up to walk away.

"_Isobelle, you should have told me sooner."_ Ardeth said reaching up and gripping her fragile wrist gently. _"I would have understood then just as I do now."_  
He tried to meet her gaze but she refused to look at him. _"You said in the letter you left for me that you do not expect me to wait for you.  
"I could never abide marrying any other woman, I love you too much."_ Isobelle twisted out of his grip.

"_Would you be able to love me even when I could not bear to have you touch me in _that_ way?"_ Ardeth stood up and turned her to face him.  
She looked away but he grasped her chin and forced her to look at him.

"_I would not be fit to call myself your husband if I didn't. I love _you_ with all your so called imperfections. You are everything to me, I would give up everything in this world if it meant I could be with you, be a father to your children."_ He was aware of everyone on board the dirigible watching the pair closely, Isobelle stepped back looking away from him nervously.

"_I can't be the wife you need to have at your side when you take your father's place as commander."_ She said softly, tears welling up in her beautiful black eyes.

"Are we there yet?" Alex asked for the umpteenth time for lack of a better past-time.

"No." Lock-Nah said barely concealing his irritation.  
All traces of the sympathetic man from the night before gone as the boy tried desperately to amuse himself.

"Are we there yet?" Alex asked again, watching Lock-Nah for his reaction.

"No." Lock-Nah said again, a tiny amount of his irritation slipping through in his tone.

"Are we there yet?" Alex huffed boredly.

"No." The swarthy skinned man snapped, meeting Amelia Wilkins' gaze darkly as she stood in the doorway laughing with genuine amusement.

"Are we there yet?" Alex asked again, glancing at Amelia.

"No." Came the response.

"Are we there yet?"

"No." Lock-Nah snapped again.

"Are we there yet?" Alex felt like laughing alongside Amelia but refrained, knowing he would just get zapped by her magic again.

"No." Lock-Nah glared between the two of them.

"Are we there yet?" By this time Amelia was laughing uncontrollably a brilliant, throaty, contagious sound that Alex wanted to join.

"No!" Lock-Nah leaned back in his seat and glared solely at Amelia. "Stop that!" he snapped at Amelia who just laughed harder.

"Are we there yet?" Alex asked again, spurred on by Amelia's laughter.

"No." Lock-Nah muttered again looking as if he wished he were somewhere else.

"Are we there yet?"

"No!" Lock-Nah sat up straight his face set as he studiously ignored Amelia.

"Are we there yet?" Alex watched him carefully.

"No!" Lock-Nah growled again.

"Are we there yet?"

"NO!"

"Are we there yet?" Alex asked again, flinching when Lock-Nah yanked his knife out of its sheath and drove the tip into the table between the boy's index and middle fingers.  
Amelia stopped laughing immediately and glared coldly at Lock-Nah.

"LOCK-NAH!" she snapped and he flicked his eyes at her angrily.

"Whoa! That was amazing!" Alex cried out in admiration. "Perfect aim."

"What are you talking about?" Lock-Nah asked as he jerked his knife out of the table. "I missed." Leaning back he started drumming his fingers on the table, stopping when Alex started doing the same thing.  
Amelia left the two alone as she struggled not to start laughing again.  
Lock-Nah tapped his fingers on the table experimentally, watching Alex's hand as the boy copied the motion.  
He tapped his fingers again, pulling his knife out and half diving over the table when the boy copied the movement again.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" The eight year old said quickly as he drew back in fright.  
Lock-Nah breathed out in an indignant huff, pressing his lips together looking practically apoplectic with his black eyes wide as he stood rigidly with his knife held ready to gut Alex.

Isobelle looked at the sceptre that Izzy guarded closely suspiciously, she hadn't really thought much about it but something about it nagged at her subconscious consistently.

"Izzy, may I have a look at that?" she asked as she held her hand out for the sceptre.  
Izzy glared at her suspiciously but he handed it over quickly.  
As soon as the cool gold touched her bare hand she gasped, nearly dropping the sceptre when a jolt of power shot up her arm, telling her a tale of its existence, including being forged by the hands of; "Lord Osiris." She breathed and staring at the sceptre in her hands.

"_What is it?" _Ardeth asked when he saw the look on her face.  
She shook her head and reluctantly handed the sceptre back to the dark skinned pilot who snatched it back eagerly.

"_I have to speak to Richard."_ She muttered stalking up to where Rick and Evy stood watching the desert fly by below them.  
Rick looked at her and flinched, seeing the dark look she shot him. "You gave the sceptre of Osiris to Izzy." She hissed angrily at her brother.

"The what?" Ardeth asked coming up behind Isobelle and stopping.  
She glanced back to see he had gone pale.

"Isobelle, he promised to help if we gave it to him." Rick excused himself. "You were there, if you'll care to remember."

"That sceptre belongs to the Medjai." She growled at her brother. "I don't care how you do it. Get. It. Back!" She finished through clenched teeth.  
Rick nodded quickly when he saw how serious she was.

Lock-Nah shoved Alex into the toilet roughly.

"Make it quick." The man snapped.  
The boy made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat as he looked at the excrement splattered walls of the toilet before turning to give Lock-Nah a look that said; 'Are you serious?' Lock-Nah shoved the eight-year-old onto the closed lid of the toilet. "Hurry Up!" The warrior snapped angrily.  
Alex looked beside himself at the bits of old newspaper hanging on a hook to serve as toilet paper.

"Hey! Reading material!" He exclaimed looking up at Lock-Nah almost happily.

"NOW!" Lock-Nah snapped.  
The blond boy jumped up and faced the toilet, feeling the swarthy warrior's eyes on him the whole time.  
He turned back and looked up at Lock-Nah.

"I can't go when someone's watching." He explained quickly and the man turned around impatiently standing with his back stiff as a rod. "I don't trust you. You'll look." Lock-Nah turned to look at him incredulously before walking out and slamming the door of the disgusting cubicle.  
As soon as the man was out Alex gripped the bars of the single window and with a grunt, threw his weight backwards in a futile attempt at pulling them off the wall. "Darn." He muttered and turned to lift the lid and seat of the toilet, deciding he may as well go while he was in there.  
"Oh my! YUCK!" he exclaimed in disgust when he saw the toilet had not been flushed. "Doesn't ANYONE around here _know_ how to flush a toilet?" he pulled the flush lever and then looked back down to see a hole open up in the bottom of the toilet.  
His eyes went wide and he put the lid down before gripping the toilet and pulling it away from the wall to reveal a hole that was just big enough for him to slip through.  
Dimly, he thought he heard his aunt talking to him, telling him what it was he had to do and, looking up he decided to follow what he thought he could hear his aunt telling him to do; reaching up, he gripped the emergency break and pulled back on it with all his might waiting until the train came to a stop before jumping through the hole and clambering out from under the carriage running towards the ruined city they had pulled up beside.  
Bullets were fire in his direction but by some miracle he avoided getting hit by any of them, he'd seen what a bullet could do when his dad had changed the bandages on his Aunt from time to time and he didn't want that to happen to him.

He crossed over the threshold into the temple and looking over his shoulder for signs of pursuit, recognising the city as Karnak a split second before the bracelet on is wrist came to life.  
Around himself he saw the temple, surrounded by a ghost image before flying across the desert to the temple island if Philae.  
The image faded away as Imhotep walked across a sacred pool towards him.  
With wide eyes the boy backed up quickly, being lifted into the air by Imhotep, who raised one gloved hand three fingers and his thumb closed so that one finger was pointed straight up.  
He tsked sternly, wagging his finger from one side to another in reprimand.

"**Where is our next stop?"** The Egyptian priest asked coldly.

"**The Temple Island of Philae." ** Alex said quickly, fear making him implicitly honest.  
Imhotep nodded as the others joined them.

Isobelle put her empty mug down on the low crate before sitting on the other side of Ardeth, listening quietly to the two as they spoke softly.  
Izzy was at the back of the dirigible piloting it, Jonathan was reading a book at the front of the airship and Evy stood on the opposite of it to her brother, watching the desert fly by.

"If a man does not embrace his past, he has no future." Ardeth said sagely as  
Rick inspected his weapons, flicking his butterfly knife quickly around.

"Look, even _if_ I was some sort of sacred Medjai, what good does that do me now?" Rick said, looking between his sister and Ardeth.

"It is the missing piece of your heart." Isobelle murmured softly.

"If you embrace it." Ardeth added.

"If you accept it." Isobelle said

"You can do anything." The pair completed together earning a glare from Rick.

"Sounds great." Rick muttered darkly. "Listen, what can we expect from our old friend Imhotep?"

"His powers are returning quickly." Isobelle said getting up. "I'm going to go and see if Evy's alright."  
Both men watched her as she walked over to where her sister-in-law stood watching the desert.

"By the time he reaches Ahm Shere even the scorpion king will not be able to stop him." she heard Ardeth murmur behind her.  
She reached Evy when she heard Imhotep's voice speaking to her from across the desert, she looked at Evy, who had gone rigid and was looking out over the desert before the smaller woman joined her at the side of the airship.

"**It is time to remind you of who you are, and of who we are together.  
"For our love is a true love, an eternal love, our souls mated as one, forever." **Imhotep was saying.

Ti watched the women in front of her as they squared off, her peculiar crystalline vision pulsing with each minor movement of the pair as they moved.  
Beside Imhotep, Pharaoh Seti clapped once and Nefertiri and Anck-Su-Namun turned away from each other, there Sais held ready.

"**Begin."** Seti called after a heartbeat.  
The women turned to face each other and started fighting; Ti recognised every single movement of both women, having taught Nefertiri diligently.  
Imhotep leaned forward anxiously but Ti remained still until one of the combatants knocked the other down. The one who lay on the floor reached up and raised her golden mask and Nefertiri lay on the polished sandstone floor, glaring defiantly at her stepmother who raised her own mask to talk to the young woman.

"**Put your mask on. Let's not scar that pretty face"** Anck-Su-Namun said and Nefertiri ignored her, instead leaping to her feet and attacking her stepmother again.  
Ti's face set into a mask of cold anger when she felt the princess's anger get the better of her, allowing her to be disarmed.  
Nefertiri somersaulted over and over, leaping up onto the wall and grabbing a formidable looking battle axe and glaring at Anck-Su-Namun over her narrow shoulder.  
Anck-Su-Namun paused and hurled her Sais into two statues holding weapons before somersaulting to a stand holding spears, she pulled one out just as Nefertiri leapt from the wall clinging to her battle axe, Anck-Su-Namun swung her spear around herself with much more grace than Nefertiri could hope to achieve in her angered state.  
The pair came together with twin grunts of effort and the loud clatter of wood and it was on again. Ti watched as Anck-Su-Namun used a pillar to get away from Nefertiri for a quick respite; sliding down to the floor in the splits and raising her spear as Nefertiri brought her battle axe down towards the concubine's head, she then swung her back leg up and forced the axe away from her spear and rolled up to her feet.  
The pair exchanged blows again until Anck-Su-Namun disarmed Nefertiri and advanced on the princess, out of desperation the unarmed woman grabbed the spear and the two engaged in a tug-of-war over it until Anck-Su-Namun twisted around and threw Nefertiri over her shoulder, knocking the wind out of the young woman as she hit the floor hard, and then stepping over the prone form of the princess and holding the tip of the spear just under the gold collar Nefertiri wore at the hollow of her graceful neck.

"**You are learning quickly."** Anck-Su-Namun acknowledged softly. **"I'll have to watch my back."** Ti sat up straighter, her own ire growing by the minute as she waited patiently for the chance to speak to the princess alone, her clouded eyes hard.

"**Yes, and I'll watch mine."**Nefertiri snapped causing the concubine to draw back coldly.

"**Bravo! Bravo!"** Seti called proudly, rising from his throne and descending the steps that lead up to it. **"Who better to protect the Bracelet of Anubis than my lovely daughter Nefertiri?"** the king indicated the golden bracelet as it went past him in its chest. **"And who better to protect **_**me**_** than my future wife, Anck-Su-Namun."** The concubine bowed as she stepped backwards respectfully. **"Well done, daughter." **The Pharaoh said warmly as he embraced his daughter warmly who returned it happily, Ti new the exact moment her father left, followed by his priests and she let her magic go, her world descending into complete darkness, one priest staying behind to help her leave the chamber. She heard the soft steps of the princess as Nefertiri approached the priest who was helping Ti to rise.

"**I will guide her out of here."** The princess told the priest before gently grabbing the blind woman's hand and helping her to her feet.

"**My master wishes to speak with his daughter." **The priest murmured reluctantly.

"**It is fine honoured priest." **Ti announced as she gripped the princess's hand. **"I will go to my father after I have spent some time in my friend's company." ** She smiled reassuringly as Nefertiri guided her from the chamber.  
Once they were safely ensconced in Nefertiri's chambers and Ti was seated on a low couch, stretched out comfortably with a goblet of wine gripped in her dainty hand she spoke to the princess sternly. **"I am disappointed in you Nefertiri."** She said while the princess changed into a soft dress. **"I have told you before not to let your temper get the better of you." **Nefertiri sighed as she sat down on a divan beside her and picked up her own goblet.

"**I know Ti, it's just, Anck-Su-Namun makes me so angry." ** The princess whined plaintively.  
Ti sighed before taking another sip from her goblet.

"**Come, I wish to walk through the gardens." **Ti announced suddenly holding out the goblet patiently. Nefertiri took it, placing it on the table and getting up, taking the blind woman's hand and helping her to her feet.

"**I am sorry for disappointing you Ti." ** The princess apologised quietly. **"I will not do so again." **Ti nodded wordlessly as she was surrounded by a vision of the future the only time she saw anything through her useless eyes without the conscious use of her Ma'at. The vision was clouded as if she were seeing it through another's eyes and words came, unbidden to her lips.

"**The guardians shall rise with the opening of the Bracelet good and evil will battle as one who lives shall leave the living and two queens; one of death, one of life, shall battle for the world in the pyramid of the king accursed." ** The vision faded and Ti slumped against Nefertiri as she lost consciousness.  
Imhotep rounded the corner in time to see the princess struggling with the dead weight of his young daughter and leapt to help, concern colouring his features.

"**What happened?" **he demanded of the princess.

"**She just stopped walking suddenly and then she said something about guardians rising and someone dying and two queens fighting over the world and a cursed king and then she fainted." **Nefertiri babbled hysterically.

"**Calm yourself princess." **Imhotep said urgently as he picked Ti's unconscious form up and carried her towards a low stone bench. **"What exactly did she say?"**

"**She said; 'the guardians will rise as one who lives shall leave the living and two queens; one of death, one of life, shall battle for the world in the pyramid of the king accursed.' What does it mean?"** Imhotep shook his head as he tried to rouse his daughter.

"**Only the gods can truly know what she means." **Imhotep replied sagely as Ti stirred. **"Are you well my daughter?"** Imhotep asked in concern as she struggled to sit up.  
The young woman nodded groggily, making a sound of protest when she felt him lift her from the bench. **"You will rest in your chamber now."** He announced brooking no argument.

"**I will come and visit you later Ti."** Nefertiri called to her friend and Ti nodded as her father carried her to her rooms in the temple of Osiris.

Later that afternoon Ti slipped from the temple, her Ma'at being her eyes as she made her way back to the palace.  
Unerringly she found her friend and the two walked to a balcony, Nefertiri guiding Ti as the priests daughter had let her world go completely black again.  
They spoke quietly of little nothings, Ti resting her hip on the edge of the intricately carved balcony.  
There was a lull in their conversation when Ti felt Nefertiri stiffen beside her.

"**Look, there is your father." **Nefertiri murmured suspiciously. **"What could he be doing in this part of the palace I wonder." **Ti leaned forward, using her Ma'at to see what the princess was talking about.  
The young woman gasped in horror when she saw the concubine walk through the drapes in front and her father kiss the woman warmly.

"**No father." **Ti murmured unhappily. **"You will be killed and I will be left alone in this world." **She whimpered.  
There was a boom and the secret lovers jumped, Imhotep disappearing behind a wall and the sheer curtains falling closed to hide them.

"**Medjai! My father needs you!"** Nefertiri yelled urgently.  
Ti dropped to the stone floor weeping bitterly. **"NO!"** She heard the princess yell and Nefertiri was no longer standing beside her.  
Ti leapt up and grasped at thin air, hearing the thud as Nefertiri hit the floor below the balcony Ti stood on.  
the blind woman staggered back, tears streaming down her face as she gasped for air.

"**Nefertiri."** The woman sobbed unhappily.

Isobelle gasped in shock, looking around herself in disorientation, Rick was hanging over the side of the airship holding a struggling Evy by the ankle and Ardeth and Jonathan were trying to pull the pair back in to safety.  
Isobelle clambered over the edge of the dirigible and grabbed Evy's other ankle and helped to pull her sister in law back into the boat.  
Jonathan reached over and gripped Isobelle's dainty wrist and tugged upwards.

"**Remember who you are sister!"** Isobelle grunted in Ancient Egyptian, stabbing out with her Ma'at. **"Remember Evelyn! Please, for your son you must remember!"**  
Isobelle felt Jonathan and Ardeth pulling all three O'Connells up as Evy stopped struggling.

"Oh My God!" Evy exclaimed suddenly and Isobelle laughed with relief, hooking her ankle into the net hanging on the side of the ship that she clung to, she twisted out of Jonathan's grasp and swung herself down, gripping Evy's shoulder and meeting her gaze squarely.

"Glad to have you back with us Evy." Isobelle grinned and helped her sister upright and giving her a push to get back into the airship before clambering back in herself.

"Are you alright?" Rick asked her as she slumped against Ardeth gratefully.

"I will be." Isobelle muttered closing her eyes and resting her head against the Medjai warrior's shoulder as they all sat down in the boat.

"Evy, I know you haven't exactly been yourself lately with all these dreams and visions-"

"No, no, there memories from my previous life." Evy interrupted her husband earnestly. "Honestly I'm not losing my mind it all makes perfect sense now."

"And that's the reason why we found the bracelet?" Rick asked sceptically.

"Exactly." Evy confirmed. "I was its protector."

"Now do you believe my friend?" Ardeth asked suddenly. "Clearly you are destined to protect this woman."

"Right, she's a reincarnated princess and I'm a warrior for god."

"And your son leads the way to Ahm Shere." Ardeth completed. "Three sides of the pyramid."

"And how does the story end?" Evy asked softly.

"Only the journey is written, not the destination. I should know, I'm the one initially who spoke the prophecy." Isobelle said quietly.

"Convenient." Rick muttered

"How else do you explain Evy's visions, that it is your son who wears the bracelet?" Ardeth pressed. "How do you explain your mark?"

"Coincidence." Rick shot back quickly.

"There's a fine line between coincidence and fate." Isobelle pointed out as she opened her eyes.  
She frowned when she saw nothing, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them again to find no change in her apparent condition. "I can't see." She breathed in shock.

"Your eyes!" Rick exclaimed in horror.  
Isobelle rubbed them and blinked, gasping when she remained blind.

"Ardeth." Isobelle whimpered, leaning into him as he held her tightly against his chest. "I can't see." She said again, a sob escaping her throat.

**sorry if that just seems a bit random guys, however, Isobelle losing her eyesight has a huge role to play in the development of this story and if I didn't write in that she lost her eyes now it never would have happened and the story would have floundered.**

**Please review, let me know what you think**


	6. Chapter 5 Memories of lives gone

**Hey guys, sorry if it seems to be a bit all over the place.**

**Stupid writers block giving me a bloody head ache, GRRRRR, anyway, please enjoy, do review, i beg you to give me your opinion and any suggestions on what you'd do differently. Ciao BD**

Rick walked over to where Ardeth sat watching Isobelle sleep and sat beside his young sister.

"What did you give her?" the American asked curiously as he pulled a sable curl off her ivory cheek and tucked it behind her small, shell like ear.

"I gave her a tea my mother taught me to make." Ardeth said quietly. "It will make Isobelle sleep deeply until tomorrow."

"I think we could all use one of those teas." Rick remarked with a wry laugh.  
Ardeth nodded with a faint smile on his face before he looked back down at Isobelle. "Do you think she's dreaming of anything?"

"If she is then I did something wrong." Ardeth refused to believe that it was even a possibility that Isobelle was dreaming at all.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she is actually dreaming even if you did get it right." Rick said dryly meeting Ardeth's incredulous frown calmly with a shrug. "Most drugs don't work on her."

"How do you know that?" Ardeth asked with a frown.

"The first time our family doctor had to see to an injury of Isobelle's he tried to use laudanum on her." Rick said with a shrug as Evy joined them.

"Alex had nightmares for weeks afterward." The Englishwoman said sitting down beside them. "Jonathan threw up when he saw the damage that had been done." She said with a sad smile.

"What happened?" Ardeth asked the couple, looking up when Jonathan joined them.

"Isobelle was teaching Alex the basics of swordplay while he was home on school holidays." Jonathan said as he lowered himself to the floor of the dirigible. "She'd turned around to speak to me for a minute and Alex decided to test her reflexes."  
Ardeth looked down at her as he listened to Jonathan's side of the story. "She wasn't expecting Alex to try and stab her so she didn't do anything to block it." The Englishman finished his story, looking a bit green at the memory.

**At Karnak**

Alex walked sideways in a circle jerking his leg back to make the chain around his ankle jangle noisily, once again he found himself with nothing to do.

"DON'T! Even think about it!" Lock-Nah snarled as he stalked towards the boy carrying a narrow pail filled with water.  
Alex stepped back quickly, holding his left hand up to show off the bracelet.

"Hold on there, partner." He said with a smug smile.

"When the time comes." Lock-Nah said leaning in close as he grabbed Alex by his green and yellow striped tie. "I shall truly enjoy killing you."

"But until that time, you'd better be a little nicer to me." Alex said tapping Lock-Nah's arm with a smug look on his face. "Now where's my water?"  
Lock-Nah slammed the pail into Alex's hands as he stood up, looking angrily down at the boy and then the tall, muscular black man stalked off. "No ICE?" Alex yelled indignantly at the man's retreating back.  
The man froze, cursed in Arabic and started walking again.

"Make sure he doesn't move!" Lock-Nah yelled at the unseen, but very present, guards before he disappeared from sight.  
Alex whirled around and quickly poured all the water out onto the sand next to the statue he was partially hidden behind and scooping it together to make a small sandcastle.  
When he finished his handiwork he stepped around in front of the statue and scooped some sand up against it to make a sort of pillow, relishing in being allowed to sleep again.

"Where is your next stop?" the voice of his aunt asked from behind him.  
He turned around and ran to Isobelle happily, throwing his arms around her and burying his face in her shoulder, inhaling her clean scent, frowning when he caught the faint smell of lilacs instead of her natural smell.

"You're not my aunt." He said stepping back and looking into the woman's blue eyes. "Aunt Isobelle has black eyes."

"Very clever Alex." Amelia's voice said coldly from Isobelle's lips. "You're aunt won't be coming into your dreams anymore, I've just taken care of that." The woman morphed from Alex's aunt to the tall blond woman who had betrayed Isobelle.  
Alex looked at her sullenly as he stepped backwards, coming up hard against the wall of the temple. "Just what have you told your aunt?" Amelia said leaning forward and gripping his chin, her blue eyes cold and hard.

"Nothing." The boy lied, knowing he had already given up the knowledge that his aunt had been visiting his dreams. "I always wake up before I get the chance to." That was at least partly true.

"Liar." The blond woman purred as she released his chin and reached around to smooth his hair. "What have you told her?"

"I told her that you betrayed her trust." The boy said in desperation. "She told me to tell you that she's coming for you, and she's going to kill you."  
Amelia laughed as she stood up.

"Nice try Alex." The woman sneered stepping back. "Isobelle thinks I'm dead so your little ruse won't work." Alex's eyes went wide and he tried to step back again, forgetting that he was already flush against the wall. "What have you told your aunt?" Amelia demanded again and Alex shook his head.

"I haven't told her anything." Alex said stubbornly shaking his head.  
Amelia smacked him sharply across the mouth and he woke with a start, looking around he realised he was on his own, still chained to the steel post that had been beaten into the ground.  
He curled into a ball and rubbed his stinging jaw before going back to sleep.

**On the dirigible**

Isobelle felt a strong calloused palm draw her down and she sat, unconsciously fidgeting with the strip of cloth she'd bound securely over her useless eyes when she woke up that morning.  
Someone pressed a hot tin mug into her hands and she took it, sniffing the brew before taking a tentative sip of the bitter tea.

"Shukran." She murmured softly as she cradled the mug in her delicate hands.

"Aafwaan." Ardeth replied quietly from beside her.  
Isobelle stayed silent as she listened to the others around her.

"We're going to need to set something up so Isobelle can find her way around the deck." Rick said in front of her, sounding subdued.

"Are you sure that would not cause problems for everyone else?" Isobelle asked softly. "I have no objections to being led around." She felt Ardeth stir beside her and turned her head in his direction automatically. "Or we could find me a cane of some sort so that I can feel my way around." She suggested as an alternative to being entirely dependent on the others.

"I will lead you." Ardeth announced firmly. "There will be no need for you to rely on anyone else." She was aware of the others stirring around her and she smiled gratefully.

"That is all well and good Ardeth, but what about Isobelle's, ah, needs?" Evy chimed in sounding horribly embarrassed.

"It is fine Evy, he only needs to help me as far as the screen; I can manage on my own from there." Isobelle said, feeling a brilliant flush inch its way up her neck to colour her ivory cheeks a delicate pink.  
Behind her she heard booted heels tapping hesitantly on the deck of the dirigible as someone walked towards them.  
They stopped directly behind her and she listened to the man's nervous breathing.

"We're five minutes out from Karnak." Izzy said and Isobelle took another sip of tea before putting down the mug and standing up.  
Beside her Ardeth stood up also, seeming anxious.

"What are you doing?" he asked her and she felt his calloused palm rest lightly on her narrow shoulder.

"Getting ready to go into Karnak." She said calmly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for a blind woman to be going into hostile territory.  
As she expected everyone on board objected strenuously.

"It's too dangerous." Evy and Rick said in unison.

"You could be hurt." Jonathan added.

"You'll slow everyone else down." Izzy threw in his tuppence worth.

"I will not chance losing you again." Ardeth told her firmly.  
Isobelle shrugged his hand off and removed her blindfold.

"What you all forget is that like Evy, I was reincarnated as well." The small Egyptian said, standing up straight. "Evy, what do you remember about Imhotep's daughter, Ti?" The younger woman turned to her sister-in-law.

"She was blind, but she was also the best fighter in the palace." Evy said automatically. "No one could sneak up on her."

"And why was that?" The woman asked, aware of all the men on the dirigible watching the two of them closely.

"Because Ti was one of the most powerful witches in all of Egypt." Evy said sounding uncertain. "But she also tired more easily than any of the other warriors and mages because she was blind."

"Do you recall that ever stopping Ti?" Isobelle asked archly.

"No."

"You were Imhotep's daughter?" Rick, Ardeth and Jonathan asked incredulously all at once.  
Isobelle shrugged and walked slowly in the direction she remembered her bedroll being.

"How will you manage to keep up with us though?" Ardeth asked taking her hand and guiding her back to the bedroll.

"I remember how Ti was able to 'see' it will be useful for me this time around because it's not going to be touch and go." She said gently, reaching up and tracing the lines of his face with her soft fingertips. _"__I promise you my love; I will not be in any unnecessary danger."_ She felt Ardeth's hands close over her deceptively fragile looking wrists and pull her hands down to hold them against his hard chest.

"_I know you will not beloved."_ He murmured softly as he released one of her hands to cup her cheek lovingly. _"I will not allow it."_ She felt his lips press against her forehead and she smiled until she felt him wrap some cloth around her wrist and drag her to the side of the dirigible.

"Don't you dare tie me up Ardeth Bay!" She snarled as her hand was forced to the railing.  
She jerked backwards but Ardeth pulled her around so her back was to him and he forced her hand back to the railing, deftly tying a knot in the strip of cloth.

"_I'm doing this for your own good my beloved."_ He murmured, pressing another kiss to her temple before pulling away.

"_DON'T YOU _BELOVED_ME!"_ she snapped already pulling at the knot and she felt him tie that hand to the railing as well. _"Untie me!"_ She ordered angrily but she knew it was pointless he'd left as soon as her other hand was bound.

"Jonathan, Izzy, think it would be a good idea if you both stayed with my sister." Rick said to the other two men on board the airship. "Evy, Ardeth, you're with me."  
Isobelle heard the muted thump as the anchor was dropped and then the three who were to leave the dirigible jumped overboard.  
Isobelle sat down, hoping her expression was neutral when she heard Jonathan walk over and stand at the side of the dirigible beside her.

"There's no need to frown so much Isobelle." The Englishman said conversationally and Isobelle turned her blind eyes up to him, not bothering with the use of her Ma'at. "They'll be fine without you." He said patting her shoulder reassuringly, drawing back quickly when she bit at him.

"Untie me Jonathan." She ordered imperiously.

"I'm not about to cross Rick." The Englishman said quickly and she heard him draw away from her. "Besides, I think your beloved Ardeth would disapprove if I did that."

"Would you rather face Ardeth and Rick or me?" she asked pointedly. "Just remember Jonathan, even blind I'm a force to be reckoned with."

"Are you now?" Jonathan asked smugly and she had a mental image of him looking down at her with his arms folded across his chest.

"Care to test it?" she asked sweetly.

"I'd be glad to Isobelle." Jonathan challenged her and she could hear the grin in his voice.

"Then why don't you untie me and I can show you just how formidable I still am." She tugged at her bonds to draw attention to them, feeling beaten when Jonathan laughed.

"When the others get back." He said as he walked away from her.  
The small woman bit back a frustrated scream and began twisting her wrists in an attempt to get free.  
She cursed when five minutes of twisting did nothing then grinned and focused her Ma'at on the knot Ardeth had tied.  
It came loose in an instant and she leapt up, quickly snatching a gun from her bedroll as she ran to the side of the dirigible and jumped over the side; ignoring the protests of Jonathan and Izzy as she went.

\/

Ardeth leapt onto the train and pointed his Thompson around, checking everything in the carriage thoroughly before getting out.

"They've gone! We've lost them." the warrior called to the American, starting when he thought he saw Isobelle running through the ruined city.

"You were supposed to stay on the balloon!" he heard Jonathan yell before he and Izzy appeared between a pair of monolithic columns, running full tilt in the direction Ardeth had seen the small woman running moments before.

"It's a dirigible!" Izzy corrected as he ran.

"Didn't you tie her up?" Rick asked the warrior curiously as the American came abreast of the desert man.

"I made sure she couldn't possibly get the knot undone." Ardeth said frowning.

"Well, apparently she was untied then." Rick said darkly. "We'd better go and get her."

\/

Evy frowned when she thought she saw Isobelle run past her.  
Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when Jonathan ran past his little sister followed closely by Izzy.  
She rolled her eyes before turning down another aisle to find Isobelle standing beside a pool of water.  
The young woman was breathing heavily, leaning against another column when Evy approached her.

"That should keep them busy for a few minutes." Isobelle said finally and straightened. "Come on, I've found evidence that they've camped here." The petite Egyptian woman turned around and walked unerringly away from the pool further into the temple.

"Are you doing that trick where you can see even though you're blind?" Evy asked curiously and Isobelle laughed softly before nodding once.

"Just through here." Isobelle pointed before walking down a set of steps and through a low stone doorway, but Evy happened to glance to her right at the exact moment Isobelle disappeared through the stone arch.  
The small scrap of green and yellow cloth was hanging from the statue in plain sight at about her eye level.

"RICK!" The woman yelled and ran towards it.  
Isobelle reached her first and was followed closely by Rick and Ardeth, Izzy and Jonathan joining them a moment later.

"What is it Old Mum?" Jonathan asked from behind them.

"Alex left us his tie." Evy said handing the scrap of cloth to Rick.  
Isobelle snatched it away from her brother and concentrated on it, unaware that Evy had knelt down until she spoke again. "And, he made us a little sandcastle." She added, causing Isobelle to concentrate on 'seeing' again, to see a small replica of the temple island of Philae made out of sand.

"It's the temple Island of Philae." Isobelle murmured, the crustal like bluish white lines that showed her the world around her twisting as Evy reached out to wipe some sand off the top of a part of the sandcastle.

"They've gone to Philae." Evy confirmed as she stood.

"Atta boy Alex." Rick muttered as they all turned to leave the ruined city. "Come on!" the six of them ran on to the balloon, Jonathan and Izzy pulling the two women back in before helping Ardeth and Rick back in.  
they were up in the air when Rick turned on Izzy and Jonathan.  
"Which one of you untied her?" the American demanded sternly.

"It has to have been Izzy." Jonathan said quickly pointing at the swarthy skinned man.

"I would never!" Izzy snapped. "I'm more scared of Rick than I am of Isobelle." He said sounding indignant. "Jonathan must be lying." Isobelle distinctly heard the outraged sound tha Jonathan made and she started laughing throatily.

"I wouldn't go against Rick if my life depended on it!" The Englishman shouted. "What are you laughing at?" he demanded of the heartily chortling Egyptian.

"I would like to know what is so funny as well actually." Rick said while Isobelle leaned against the side of the airship.

"Sorry, you just assumed I was untied." She said after several minutes. "I do have a few tricks of my own up my sleeve, so to speak." She added after another minute.

"HOW?" Ardeth demanded in a loud voice.

"I have my secrets." She shrugged holding a hand out for someone to grab.  
She felt Ardeth's hand close over her dainty fingers and she walked forward cautiously, stopping directly in front of him.  
Tilting her head back she slapped him smartly.  
"That's for tying me up and leaving me behind." She whispered intimately before letting go of him and walking straight to her bedroll before allowing her world to go completely black.

"I'm actually impressed." She heard Rick mutter as she put her gun away and lay down, lowering her eyelids.

"I'm surprised that she could move so fast." Jonathan said quietly. "She wasn't kidding when she said her blindness isn't a hindrance." She smiled silently as she rolled over before falling asleep.

**In the main encampment of the first tribe of the Medjai**

Adara Bay slumped to one side, barely clinging to consciousness as she defended against the vicious mental attack.  
Feeling the others join in to help her strengthened her resolve and she drove them back.

"_This is my battle. Stay out of it."_ She ordered tersely as she jabbed at the psyche of her opponent, shuddering as her attack slid off the oily surface of the woman's mental shields.  
The next attack came and the elderly woman succumbed to the blackness that rose up to claim her, trapping her in a bleak world of horror and desolation. _"You are our last hope Isobelle O'Connell."_ The elderly witch murmured before she gave in to the nightmares that awaited her.

**Back on the dirigible**

*Isobelle ran through the rapidly darkening streets of Cairo, deftly avoiding shards of glass on the filthy pavement, leaping over drunken brawlers and dodging around trollops without pause.  
Rick was going to kill her for being late again, she was aware of someone following her but she ignored them, more interested in getting back to the cramped flat she shared with her older brother than shaking off potential thieves or murderers.  
Gasping she turned down one alley, hoping to get through it unscathed and cursing when she saw that she'd made a mistake in her rush to get home.  
The alley she had run into was a dead end, and that meant she would have to retrace her steps.

"_Good evening Asha."_ She heard her cousin say coldly behind her. _"Fancy seeing you here, especially at this time of night."_ The small woman-child turned to face her cousin, attempting to look demure.

"_Cousin."_ She murmured quietly, her gut telling her she needed to get out of there.

"_One could assume you are engaging in certain, activities that may just be considered inappropriate for a respectable Bedouin woman to be engaged in."_ The twenty-year-old stalked towards her, grabbing a single tress of her unbound, shoulder-length sable curls. _"And your hair is neither bound, nor is it covered as it should be."_ He sneered as he let it fall back to her shoulder before slapping her hard enough that she stumbled into the filth smeared wall, cutting the heel of her foot on a shard of broken glass.  
She picked herself up and eyed the young man suspiciously, checking to make certain her new skirt was sitting the way it was supposed to on her slim, boy-like hips.

"_What do you want Aladdin?"_ she demanded, hoping she sounded fierce, shuddering at his cruel laugh.

"_I want a lot of things, Asha."_ He sneered, hitting her again, this time she slipped in the sludge and her own blood and falling to the ground, she gasped in pain as she felt another shard of glass pierce her narrow shoulder, if she was lucky that scar would fade quickly. _"But, at the moment, I think you want to know why I am even bothering to speak to a lowly woman like you."_ He drawled above her a split second before he lashed out with his booted foot.  
The girl rolled to the left, coming up to her scuffed knees in the muck, blood pouring freely from her shoulder and foot.  
Defiantly she began to rise, catching Aladdin's foot as he tried to kick her again and throwing him backwards a step.

"_I would desire the knowledge of why you are attempting to hurt me cousin."_ She uttered softly, her fury taking over as she advanced on him.

"_Because I will _NOT_ tolerate a harlot's daughter walking among _MY_ tribe."_ He snarled as he lashed out again, this time catching the tiny woman-child in her stomach, the strike winding her and sending her to her knees once again.  
Isobelle glared at him as she gasped painfully, spinning halfway around as he slapped her smartly across the mouth.  
She struggled vainly as he then came up behind her and pushed her face into the slim covered trash lining the ground and shoving her long, flowing skirt out of the way.

"NO!" She shrieked the denial around a mouthful of the muck, wriggling desperately against his hold but he wasn't budged, instead shaking her harshly.*

"_Wake up Isobelle."_ She heard someone saying distantly, feeling hands on her shoulders.  
She screamed, batting them away from her, bucking and twisting wildly when she felt them return to her shoulders.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She yelled, not entirely awake.

"What the hell are you doing to my sister?" she heard her brother yell and the hands were ripped away from her shoulders roughly.  
Isobelle gasped, waking up fully, no longer trapped in her nightmare.

"She was having a nightmare, I was simply trying to wake her." She heard Ardeth say.

"Rick, what he says is true." Isobelle said quietly as she sat up taking a deep shaky breath. "I had that nightmare again." She felt her brother sit down beside her and wrap his arm around her narrow shoulders.  
She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her milky eyes to hold back the flood of tears she could feel there, threatening.

"You haven't had it in so long." He murmured just as quietly as she had spoken a moment before. "Why would you have it now?"

"I don't know." She mouthed around a sob.  
Rick rubbed her shoulder reassuringly, sitting in silence while she strove to stifle her sobs.

**with the bad guys**

Amelia Wilkins smiled cruelly as she watched the happenings among the O'Connell lot through her highly polished hand-held mirror.

"Destroying you has just become that much easier, my dear, sweet young Ti." She crooned to the reflection-like image of the weeping Egyptian woman. "I will relish the day you fall at my feet."  
The image faded and Amelia put the intricate mirror into her bags before she turned around no longer standing in her tent, but rather facing Alex O'Connell as he was sitting down ready to sleep for the night in front of the altar in the main part of the ruined temple. "How many others have visited your dreams boy?" Amelia asked silkily as she crouched down in front of him.

"No one else has visited my dreams." Alex said defiantly as he glared at her from the ground. She smiled at him maliciously and reached out with one oval shaped fingernail and touched his chest.

"Do you want to know how long I can torture you without killing you?" she asked mellifluously.  
Alex shook his head quickly, his young face drained of colour and his forget-me-not blue eyes went wide with terror. "Then tell me who else has visited your dreams." She whispered in honeyed tones. "I know there have been others Alex." She stood up and circled him as she walked. "I've felt them seeking you out."

"No one else has visited my dreams since you put that spell on me to stop it." Alex lied valiantly, not saying anything when she slapped him, jerking wildly at the painful jolts of electricity that shot through his small body.

"**ENOUGH!"** Amelia turned around to find Imhotep and Anck-Su-Namun stalking towards them. **"It matters not that others are trying to find him."** The priest hissed at the blond woman coldly.

"**There is no harm in allowing it." **Anck-Su-Namun added from beside Imhotep. **"The boy will die when we reach Ahm Shere anyway."** Amelia bowed to the couple and backed away from the three of them, rage at being thwarted simmering just below the surface.

"**I have a message for your aunt the next time she visits your dreams boy."** Imhotep said to Alex once Amelia was well out of earshot. **"Tell her, if she will give up this foolish attempt at saving the world and stand with me she will be spared."** Imhotep turned and walked away, followed by a now silent Anck-Su-Namun.

"Aunt Isobelle." Alex whispered despairingly. "don't do anything for them."

**again, sorry if it seemed a little scattered, i hope you guys enjoyed reading it. please review, let me know what you think and tell me if there are any changes you would make, or even suggest something for the next chapter. **


	7. Chapter 6 a softer side to Ardeth

They reached Philae by lunch time of the second day, this time Ardeth drugged Isobelle to keep her from joining them; she didn't wake up until after they had boarded the airship again and were underway to the next destination.

"Where are we going?" the small woman asked, turning her head around blindly.

"The great temple of Abu Simbel." Evy answered absently beside her sister-in-law.  
Isobelle nodded before standing up and holding a hand out.

"I thought you could use some kind of ancient magic to be able to see?" Jonathan remarked when the small woman felt Ardeth's hand close over her own and she followed him as he led her to the screen that had been set up for privacy while using the bucket.

"I can." Isobelle replied over her shoulder as she walked behind the warrior patiently. "It's exhausting and I'm going to need all the strength I can muster when we reach Ahm Shere." She explained with a shrug before Ardeth pulled her in front of him and let her go.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

The Temple of Abu Simbel was a dark place, but it was also vast and after much debate Isobelle was permitted to join them on the condition that she stayed close to Rick.  
She agreed and they were soon walking into the temple together, Isobelle's small hand hooked into the back strap of Rick's shoulder holsters, her senses flared wide as she listened to what the temple whispered to her.

"There has been black magic performed here." She murmured before allowing her hand to drop to the revolver hidden in the waistband of her pants.  
Alex walked through the opening of the temple, followed closely by Imhotep who carried a flaming torch.  
"Alex?" Isobelle asked, her attention drawn to the boy as he walked down the vast stone corridor towards the back of the ancient temple.  
Unknowingly, she followed him completely oblivious to the strange looks her brother, sister-in-law and the Medjai warrior were giving her. "Where are you going?" She asked the apparition stopping behind him when he reached the altar in the back of the temple.  
He stood stock still, his hand raised high as the bracelet showed him where he had to go next.

"**Where do we go next?"** Imhotep asked softly and Alex pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper, sketching a rocky canyon with the Nile River cutting a majestic path through it.  
Isobelle studied the drawing carefully, bent over her nephew's shoulder.

"I don't know what it's called." The boy said quietly. "But, I'll recognise it when I see it, and the bracelet will too." Imhotep nodded with a pleased smile on his face.

"**Then we will leave immediately. I see no point in staying here and risking your parents catching up to us."** The priest said dropping the torch on the floor and gesturing for Alex to lead the way out of the sacred space.  
The boy walked out and surreptitiously dropped the sketch in the darkened tunnel before he stepped into the bright sunlight, Isobelle following her nephew as closely as possible.  
A hand clapped onto Isobelle's shoulder just before she walked out of the temple as well, and she started, her world turning black again as the vision faded.

"What the hell are you doing Asha?" Rick demanded of her, irritation colouribg his tone.

"Look for a scrap of paper that has been dropped." Isobelle instructed the others tersely slumping against whoever was beside her. "Alex left his clue on it." She said quietly feeling a muscular arm wrap around her slight shoulders and the warm, wild smell of the desert and a faint of horse sweat tickled her nose deliciously and she rested her head on Ardeth's shoulder.

"Are you certain of it?" Rick asked in front of her.

"I just watched my nephew, followed by the creature walk in here and see him draw a picture of a rocky canyon before they walked out into the desert." She said calmly. "I'll wait here while you find it." She said quietly and stood up straight, allowing Ardeth's arm to drop away from her.  
It was several minutes later that she was lead out of the temple and into sunlight, and then Ardeth was handing her up to Rick before clambering into the dirigible himself and they were off, following the Nile south, searching for the canyon that Alex had drawn for them.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"Has anyone else noticed that we seem to be going in a roughly southern direction?" Rick asked the next morning when a series of rocky canyons came into view, Isobelle shrugged where she sat combing her hair out carefully, hyper-aware of Ardeth's intense gaze following every graceful motion as she pulled the ivory comb through the sable mass, carefully untangling the snarls that had formed as a result of sleeping with her hair loose the night before

"I thought it could be a possibility." Isobelle murmured as she worked patiently at one stubborn tangle, giving up the comb readily when she felt someone pluck it from her elegant hand and start working at the knot she'd been struggling with.  
Everyone around the two froze and Isobelle frowned in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly, Evy was the first to recover and she cleared her throat.

"Nothing, Ardeth just surprised us that is all." Isobelle smiled when she heard the imposing Medjai warrior chuckle behind her.

"Why?" The small woman asked as she revelled in the rare feeling of contentment that she got from Ardeth running her comb through her thick, glossy, ebony ringlets.

"No offense Ardeth," Rick started nervously. "But, your'e just too, well, I guess the word would be, help me out here Evy."

"Cold." Izzy stated decisively.

"Tough." Jonathan added

"Sequestered." Evy finished and Isobelle raised an eyebrow at the four of them.

"Then you clearly haven't seen him with the children among the tribes of the Medjai." Isobelle said with a faint teasing smile.  
Behind her Ardeth cleared his throat uncomfortably but continued combing her hair. "He's sweet and kind." She enlightened them, ignoring the warning tug of her hair that Ardeth gave her. "Especially with his nieces and nephews."  
She felt him wrap her hair around his fist and she went back willingly as he pulled her against his shoulder.

"_Not another word."_ He warned her in a deadly quiet voice. _"Not one more word Isobelle."_ She couldn't help the laughter that bubbled up at his warning and he let her go, muttering in disgust about women and their wiles.  
The others burst out laughing as well, true laughter, everyone relaxing like they hadn't been able to since the beginning of the desperate chase across the timeless sands of Egypt.

"I think our good friend here is smitten." Jonathan teased around a chortle and Isobelle used her Ma'at long enough to see the lost expression on Ardeth's face and smiled reassuringly.

"How did you know what to look for?" Evy asked as they were eating their lunch quietly; Rick and Jonathan casting the occasional teasing glance at the warrior.  
Isobelle cocked her head to the side as she searched for the words to explain it.

"I'm not entirely sure." She said quietly. "It's like the temple, I don't know how to explain it, it's like the temple told me what to look for." She finally managed, knowing she hadn't exactly explained how she knew Alex had left something for them.

"Right, the temple told you what to look for." Rick muttered, clearly unconvinced. "That makes perfect sense, and I'm actually a ballet dancer."  
Isobelle choked on her water as she laughed at the mental image conjured by her brother's acerbic words.

"Stranger things have happened Rick." Evy pointed out and Isobelle nodded her agreement.

"If mummies can come back to life why can't temples talk?" Jonathan added with a humorous note in his voice.

"You didn't find the note Alex left us Jonathan, I did." Isobelle snapped before standing up. "I don't know why I even bothered explaining it." She muttered darkly before stalking to the back of the dirigible, the effect of her pri

proud march being ruined when she tripped over a neatly coiled rope, hitting the deck face first with a solid thud.

"ISOBELLE!" Everyone shouted in unison and she felt four sets of hands trying to pull her up.  
She batted at them impatiently and stood up on her own, feeling around with her feet more carefully this time.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Amelia rode abreast of Lock-Nah in silence; she was still fuming from the latest reprimand Imhotep had delivered to her the night before.  
The damned one had caught her saying she should be allowed to torture the information out of Alex, in return she'd been sand blasted by the ancient priest and told to leave him alone while she lay on the sand, feeling like she didn't have a single inch of skin left on her.  
She glanced up and frowned, seeing the small falcon flying past them, heading north.

"Look at that." She said, pointing at the little thing and Lock-Nah followed where she pointed, pulling his mask down and frowning.  
Ahead of them Alex was reading quietly and at the head of the column Anck-Su-Namun rode level with Imhotep and Baltus was directly behind the couple looking very uncomfortable on his camel.

"What is it doing?" Lock-Nah asked with a frown.

"It's a messenger bird; I'd imagine it's taking a message to someone." She said patiently. "I think I've seen it before though." Lock-Nah nodded absently and replaced his mask.

"Can you 'follow' it to its destination?" The swarthy skinned man asked and the woman nodded breezily.

"Piece of cake." She responded with a nonchalant shrug before her eyes went blank as she concentrated.  
Lock-Nah settled back in the saddle and waited patiently, boredom prevalent as the blond woman beside him tracked the bird's path with her mind. "Damn it all to hell!" she swore suddenly and everyone around them jumped violently.

"What?" Lock-Nah demanded of her, straightening in his seat.

"There's a horde of desert men following us, the bird came from the O'Connells." She explained in a hushed voice.

"It's a bird, easily disposed of." Lock-Nah shrugged softly, reaching into the saddle bag for his rifle.  
Amelia gripped his wrist and met his dark gaze firmly.

"Not yet." She whispered. "When we reach the oasis you can get rid of the rodent with wings." Lock-Nah nodded wordlessly and settled back in the saddle.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Isobelle's blind eyes opened and she frowned, beside her she could hear the deep, even breathing of Ardeth as he slept soundly on his bedroll, no more than a foot away from her, on the other side of the dirigible she could hear Rick's soft, rhythmic snoring punctuated by unintelligible murmuring from Evy.

"Money..." Jonathan murmured and she heard him roll over.

"I don't want to get shot again." Izzy complained next to the helm and then started snoring again.  
Isobelle sat up slowly; trying not to make a sound as she tried to figure out what it was that had woken her.  
Beside her, Ardeth grabbed her wrist firmly and she froze, not relaxing until he mumbled something sleepily and let her go.  
Isobelle carefully stood up, using her Ma'at to see so she wouldn't stand on anyone sleeping away on the dirigible.

"_Be wary my lady." _Isobelle whirled, starting when she recognised Basam, Ardeth's youngest brother.

"_I know to be cautious honoured Basam."_ Isobelle said softly, trying not to awaken the others.

"_He seems much more peaceful."_ The boy murmured, indicating his peacefully sleeping brother. _"There is a woman among the ones who have the Bracelet of Anubis, she has done something to mother. No one can wake her."_ Isobelle nodded but said nothing.

"_Keep her hydrated, make certain she gets enough nutrients, even if you have to keep giving her broth."_ The Egyptian woman instructed. _"If she does not wake up before I return to the camp I will try my hand at awakening lady Adara."_

"_She fades a little more each day Isobelle; we don't know what to do."_ The boy sounded as scared as he looked.

"_Are you holding her soul to this world?"_ Isobelle asked, looking intently at the boy in front of her, no, he wasn't a boy anymore, he was a man now.

"_Yes, but it will not work." _Basam responded, sounding dejected. _"She slips away from us a little mire each day."_

"_I will try to hold her close to this world also. See what you can do about finding a way to undo this damage."_ Isobelle said quickly, her voice low._ "We must all try to reach her over the dream paths as well."_

"_She keeps pushing everyone away." _Basam said just as quietly as he looked around at the sleeping people on the airship.

"It's a dirigible." Izzy muttered before he snorted and rolled over again.

"_What did he say?"_ Basam asked quietly.

"_He said it's a dirigible."_ Isobelle replied softly. _"He asked not to be shot earlier." _Basam burst out laughing and the small Egyptian woman joined in the laughter, both of them freezing when Ardeth and Rick flinched, Rick settled again, but Ardeth reached out in his sleep, searching for Isobelle.

"_I should go."_ Basam said softly. _"Be careful, Ardeth will not survive losing you a second time."_ The young man cautioned and with a blinding flash that woke everyone up he was gone.  
Isobelle held up her hand towards the others.

"Nehm." She murmured softly and all of the men fell back into the welcoming arms of sleep. "Nehmeh." Evy met her eyes squarely before she too fell back into a deep sleep.  
When Isobelle lay back down on her bedroll she was surprised by Ardeth grabbing her and dragging her to his side, wrapping his arm securely around her waist and settling into a deeper sleep.  
With a secret smile she snuggled closer, pillowing her head on his shoulder and falling into a deep, contented sleep.

\/

"That's a blue Nile down there." Rick remarked from the side of the airship.  
Isobelle cocked her head to the side as she listened to her brother.  
"We must be out of Egypt by now."

"In ancient times all this still belonged to the upper kingdom." Evy said quietly.

"The oasis must be around here somewhere." Isobelle added, gliding to stand beside her brother before allowing her world to go black once again.

"Don't worry Evy. We'll find him." Rick said calmly.

"He's a smart kid." Isobelle added sagely.

"He'll leave us a sign." The siblings finished together.

"Has it never occurred to either of you that when you do that thing where one of says one part of a statement the next one will add something that elaborates it and then the two of you finish the statement together, it is positively ghoulish?" Jonathan asked from behind Isobelle.  
The small woman shrugged turning around and leaning her hip on the safety railing of the dirigible.

"We just know each other that well." Rick said with a shrug.

"Neither of us is really aware we're doing it." Isobelle supplemented then with a faint smile, knowing that like her brother, she was doing it on purpose now.

"It really comes in handy at times though." Rick added and the small woman felt her brother's rising amusement.

"It's also faster than one of us trying to get something across to the other when we generally already know what the other is about to say." They completed in unconscious synchronisation and Evy burst out laughing as Jonathan made a disgusted sound.

"I don't think he really enjoyed that." Isobelle remarked as she turned around again.

"Most likely not." Rick agreed with a chuckle.

"We should do it to him again some time." They completed and burst out laughing.

"Leave him alone." Evy reprimanded them around her own giggles.

"Say, Isobelle, what are you going to tell your bosses?" Rick asked suddenly very serious. "When you return to England?"

"I'm not telling them anything." Isobelle said quietly. "You're going to tell them that I'm dead." She felt the tension rise from the simmering worry over her nephew to as thick as the reeds that adorned the side of the Nile in places. "I don't want to be bothered by them here in the desert."

"They'll want to know what happened." Rick said quietly after several minutes. "What should we tell them?"

"That I went over a cliff, bringing Meela Nais down with me." Isobelle whispered lowering her eyelids.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Lock-Nah looked down at the boy suspiciously, stalking towards him angrily when he noticed the boy doing something in the sand that was hidden behind a rock.

"Surprised to see me?" he demanded, picking Alex up bodily. "Leaving breadcrumbs, huh?" Alex grunted as he was shaken roughly.

"**Lock-Nah put the boy down."** Imhotep said from where he stood in the centre of the flowing river.  
Alex watched the priest curiously as Lock-Nah lowered Alex to the sand beside the river. **"I hope your parents enjoyed their journey."** The priest added with a cruel smile.  
Everyone on the narrow beach drew back in mixed reactions horror and awed surprise as Imhotep raised his hands, the river following the motion to form a huge wall of dangerous blue liquid.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"Does anyone else hear that?" Isobelle asked with a frown.  
Aware of the others moving slowly to the prow of the dirigible.  
The whistling and rumbling echoes in the canyon grew steadily louder as they all listened intently.

"We're in trouble!" Izzy yelled suddenly and Isobelle turned around drawing every speck of power she could muster to her and raised her hands, instinctively pushing at the wall of Ma'at she could feel behind the airship.

"Whoa." Jonathan hissed behind the small woman but she barely heard it, focusing on stopping the magic coming at them.

"Horus FLY!" Ardeth ordered urgently behind Isobelle.

"IZZY COME HARD RIGHT!" Rick shouted insistently. "STARBOARD! STARBOARD!"  
The roar-like rumble sound was her only warning as the air borne contraption lurched forward.  
She felt someone crash into her and smelt the wild desert as Ardeth pinned her to the deck protectively.  
Cold water slapped onto the deck and Isobelle gasped in shocked indignation.

"Let me up." She ordered, squirming beneath Ardeth, her cheeks flaming when she felt his reaction to her movements pressing unrepentantly into the cradle of her boyish hips.  
Ardeth moved off of her quickly, coughing uncomfortably.

"Is there a little something you forgot to mention, hmm?" Izzy demanded unhappily from the back of the airship.

"Not really." Isobelle shrugged straightening her robe.

"Ah, people." Jonathan said from the prow of the dirigible.  
Isobelle ignored him, gathering her will already.

"Ahm Shere." Ardeth murmured in awe.  
Isobelle frowned and turned towards the warrior's voice.

"What does it look like?" She asked softly.

"Green." Rick answered her as he snapped a telescope open.

"And huge." Evy added, sounding just as awed as Ardeth had a moment before.

"Right." Rick muttered as he collapsed the telescope again.

"It's very lush." Jonathan observed quietly and Isobelle whirled around as they all heard the rumble that signalled a second wave.

"HE'S BACK!" Izzy shouted in terror. "HANG ON!" Isobelle felt Ardeth wrap his arms around her waist securely as the dirigible lurched forward a second time and then they all heard the engines stall.  
"Well that's not good." Izzy said and Isobelle threw a hasty shield around them.

"Hang on!" she and Rick yelled together as the wave hit them, driving the airship down to the waiting jungle below them.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"Mum?" Alex whispered around a lump in his throat. "Dad?" Imhotep walked past him and ruffled his short blond hair.

"I guess I should have seen it coming." Amelia sneered coming up behind the boy. "Still, I had wanted to be the one to bring Ti down."

"Who's Ti?" Alex asked, unable to resist the temptation.

"**My daughter."** Imhotep answered the question coldly glaring at Amelia. **"If by some miracle she survived you will do nothing to harm her."**  
Amelia bowed low, respect screaming from her posture.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"We're going to go get my son." Rick explained the plan to Izzy as he handed a bag to Isobelle who threw it in the direction she'd last heard Jonathan standing in.  
Around her she could hear the others getting everything together so they could get Alex back safely. "Then we're going to want to get out of here fast so make this work Izzy."

"No, you don't understand, god damn it! This thing was filled with gas, not hot air, gas!" Izzy retorted indignantly. "Where am I going to gas from around here huh? What, bananas? Mangoes? Tarzans arse?" Isobelle turned her clouded eyes in Izzy's general direction. "You know, maybe I could finagle it to take hot air, but do you know how many cubic metres I'd need? It's too big!"

"If anyone can fill this thing with hot air, Izzy, it's you." Isobelle assured the pilot as she stepped back, trusting Ardeth to catch her as she jumped from the wrecked airship.

"_I'd rather you stayed here." _Rick muttered to Isobelle in unaccented Arabic as he walked past the pair, earning a stunned look from Ardeth.

"_After all these years, you finally decide to let me know _NOW_ that you speak Arabic?"_ Isobelle demanded of her brother, who made the vocal equivalent of a shrug.

"Horus!" Ardeth called the bird, letting go of Isobelle for a moment, not reacting when she caught hold of his belt.  
He slipped a small metal tube containing a roll of papyrus into the small loop attached to the falcon's ankle before setting the bird loose.

"I'll be fine to follow Ardeth, as long as I keep hold of your belt." Isobelle told the warrior before he could drape his arm across her shoulders again.

"I was going to get you to stay close to Evy." Ardeth said quietly and she nodded once, feeling Evy grip her free hand.

"I've got a better idea." Rick said from behind Ardeth. "We could tie Isobelle and Evy together so that they stay together."

"I don't object to it." Evy piped up and Isobelle shrugged wordlessly.

"Then I guess it's settled." Rick said as he wrapped one end of a short length of rope around his sister's waist loosely and tying a secure knot.  
She heard him doing the same to Evy with the other end as she tested the strength of the knot. "The women will stay in the middle of the group, Ardeth, you and Jonathan will take up the rear."

"So you're taking point?" Isobelle asked sharply, feeling Evy take her hand again and the two women started walking down one path.

"You guessed it Asha." Rick said cheerfully in front of them.

"So, Rick, what's the plan?" Jonathan asked from Isobelle's right and she could hear Ardeth's soft footsteps behind her.

"We'll find some higher ground." Rick responded. "When we do, Isobelle and Evy, I'll untie the rope keeping you two together."

"Leave the rope with me Rick." Isobelle called to her brother. "I can use it in a confrontation." She added a minute later.

They'd walked several yards into the dense jungle when they heard the shot.

"Horus!" Ardeth called desperately and Isobelle froze, starting to pick at the knot around her waist quickly. "I must go." The warrior said as Rick pushed past the two women.

"Wait." Rick started

"I must let the commanders know where we are." Ardeth told the American.

"No you can't go." Rick said as Isobelle finished getting the knot undone.

"if the army of Anubis arises..." Isobelle spoke up, carefully retracing her steps to the two men.

"I need you both to help me find my son." Rick said touching Isobelle's shoulder.

"Then first I shall help you." Ardeth conceded.

"And after that we'll go to the commanders." Isobelle assured the warrior.

"Thank you." Rick said to the pair and Isobelle held out her hand patiently, feeling Ardeth lace his fingers through hers.  
They took the lead, Evy pressing the coiled rope into the other woman's delicate hand.


	8. Chapter 7 The Oasis of Ahm Shere

**A/N hey guys, here it is. sorry it took as long as it did, damn writer's block.**

**Enjoy it, lemme know what you think. Thank you so much for your reviews. ;D**

Amelia walked behind Lock-Nah, a tingle going down her spine as she looked around herself ecstatically.  
_Finally._ She thought as she suppressed an excited grin. _All my hard work is coming together._  
She turned her eyes on Imhotep and narrowed her eyes, trying to work out how she was going to dispose of the nuisance.

"Look, Roman legionnaires." Hafez said, pointing out the Eagle emblem as they walked through the dismal graveyard. "And there, turn of the century, French. Napoleon's troops" In front of the tall slender blond Lock-Nah pulled his sword out and looked around nervously.

"What in the name of Anubis did this?" he asked in a subdued voice.  
Amelia glanced around herself briefly before opening her senses to the world around her, feeling the little creatures that guarded the oasis stirring in the underbrush. _That's part of the problem dealt with. _ She thought coldly, using small levels of magic to stir the guardians up.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Isobelle froze where she stood beside Ardeth and turned her head around, seeking.

"_What is it?"_ Ardeth asked as he pressed one of the small woman's daggers into her hand.

"_I could have sworn I felt someone using magic."_ She murmured thoughtfully as she slid the weapon into her boot.

"Hear that?" Rick asked suddenly from where he stood at the edge of the narrow overhang they were standing on.

"What?" Ardeth inquired, deciding to take the bait.

"Nothing." Rick responded darkly. "Absolutely nothing." Isobelle closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, listening to the oasis.

"My word." Jonathan breathed in awe. "I say chaps, look at this. Shrunken heads, I'd love to know how they do that." Isobelle turned her head in his general direction with an incredulous look on her face and she could imagine the others looking at the Englishman with similar expressions on their faces. "Just curious." She heard and she turned her attention back to the task of seeking the source of the Ma'at she'd felt moments before.

"One who lives shall leave the living." Isobelle mumbled thoughtfully.  
She felt four sets of eyes turn on her as she gasped out loud.

"What is it Asha?" Rick asked her curiously.

"I think I understand part of the prophecy." She explained excitedly. "One who lives shall leave the living." She stood up straight and looked around. "Someone will venture into the underworld without dying. Over the years anyone who has seen the prophecy assumed someone would die, but that's not it or this would have happened long before!" She beamed at her sudden understanding of that small part of the prophecy.

"What about the rest of it?" Evy asked beside her.

"The guardians rising are us." Isobelle explained. "You, me, Rick and Ardeth are the guardians. The part about Good and Evil battling is fairly self explanatory, the pyramid of the king accursed is the scorpion king." The small woman finished her explanation in a rush.

"What about the two queens?" Rick asked pointedly and Isobelle shrugged her narrow shoulders in defeat.

"I have no idea." She muttered unhappily, slotting several kunai into a full body harness specially designed to hold all of her weapons.  
She handed her beloved rifle to Evy silently, saying goodbye to her treasured gun and finished with sliding her khopesh into the leather slot over her left hip.  
Ardeth disappeared from her side and she froze, staying perfectly still until she felt her brother's hand on her shoulder.  
She reached up and gripped it firmly before standing up and moving backwards.

"You any good with that?" She heard Ardeth asked and assumed he was speaking to Jonathan.

"Three times fox and hound grand champion I'll have you know." Jonathan announced without even a glimmer of false modesty. "You any good with that?"

"You'll know soon enough." Isobelle murmured as she glided to a stop beside the pair, smiling when she felt Ardeth draw his sword with an efficiency born of years of long practice.

"The only way to kill an Anubis warrior is by taking off its head." Ardeth stated calmly.

"I'll remember that." Jonathan said with a nervous swallow and Isobelle chuckled. "Say, Isobelle, why haven't you started using that magic trick where you can see even though you're blind?"

"I'm waiting until it's needed." She answered simply.

"Try to remember to just, keep it tight to your shoulder, and uh, lead the target a little bit, and then, squeeze the trigger, don't pull it." Isobelle heard her brother say and she turned towards him, feeling her way over to the American calmly.

"I won't miss." Evy whispered in response.

"Look after it." Isobelle murmured after several minutes, placing her hand gently on her sister-in-law's shoulder, referring to her rifle. "Ardeth and I are ready to go now." She then said to her brother.

"Let's move out then." Rick muttered, taking his sister's hand and leading her away from Evy and Jonathan.  
She wordlessly held her hand out to Ardeth, who took it and came abreast of Rick.

"I'll stay with her." He told the American and Isobelle felt Rick let go of her hand, hearing his almost silent footsteps speed up as he took the lead.  
They walked in near silence, Isobelle staying as close to Ardeth as prudence would allow.

"I'll be fine on my own in another five minutes." She murmured to Ardeth, her instincts telling her that would be when she needed to become self reliant.  
The warrior squeezed her hand in wordless acknowledgement and she couldn't help the brilliant smile she gave him.  
They walked on silently, Isobelle counting the minutes in her mind. "Three, two, one. Let go now." She told the warrior and pulled her hand out of his grasp, her hand going straight to the comforting weight of her khopesh.  
Around her the jungle glowed in bluish white lines of crystal-like light, the hidden nooks illuminated around her. "It's so beautiful." She breathed in awe, wishing she could see the colours and shadows instead of the lines of light.  
Ardeth and Rick turned to look at her and she smiled at them silently and held a finger to her bow shaped lips before pointing ahead of them.  
Both men nodded and turned, stalking forward just as silently as the tiny woman who followed them.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Amelia scowled blackly, the small, perfect tattoo-like mark on the sole of her left foot burned more intensely the closer to the pyramid they got, but she still hadn't managed to incite the guardians of Ahm Shere to start thinning the ranks.  
To top it all off, Ti was nearby, using her Ma'at to keep up with Rick and that _Medjai_ warrior of hers.  
On a ridge above the large travelling party, Jonathan Carnahan and Nefertiri were watching over the siblings and the desert man.

"Why couldn't you just die already?" Amelia muttered at the Egyptian witch darkly.

"Because that would be too easy." Ti stated calmly and Amelia whirled to see the small woman's dark eyes staring at the blond steadily.

"You're supposed to be blind." Amelia hissed, earning strange looks from everyone around her. Ti smiled indulgently.

"You mean like this?" she asked and her eyes flickered briefly before going achromatic. "Why should I do that?" Amelia felt the blood drain from her face. "Tell me Sawdaa, do the others know what you're planning to do?"

"Enough." Amelia snapped at the woman. "I've come too far for you to stop me now." Ti merely smirked at her. "You will not get in my way Ti. I will rule the world beside Mathayus!" Amelia's voice rose to a shriek and she hurled a ball of burning black magic that appeared to be a mix of fire and water at Ti.  
The apparition cackled wickedly as she dissipated into nothingness.  
Amelia glanced around, seeing the accusatory looks in the eyes of all the people surrounding her.  
Silently she whirled and fled into the jungle, abandoning her attempt at thinning the ranks of Imhotep's followers.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"_It's good to see you again, Asha."_ Isobelle whirled around, fear constricting her throat when she heard that familiar, drawling voice; outlined in perfect detail was her cousin, Aladdin Bin Gilad leaning against a date tree, smirking at her coldly. _"I've truly missed you, after our, ah, interlude in that alley."_ The small woman shivered in fear, unable to tear her eyes away from him.

"_You're not real."_ She whispered around the lump in her throat. _"Aladdin isn't here, he's with his tribe."_ The apparition chuckled cruelly.

"_I'm disappointed in you Asha."_ He droned in what, to him, was supposed to be a charming intonation. _"How could you not think I'm real?"_ She shook her head.

"Habiba?" she felt a hand on her shoulder and she whirled away from the apparition of her cousin, drawing a knife up defensively.  
Ardeth flinched, drawing back and Isobelle sucked in a shaky breath.

"Ana asef." She whispered, slotting her knife back in its sheath and walking forward, moving away from where she had seen the apparition of her cousin.

"_What happened?"_ Ardeth asked softly and she shook her head wordlessly. "Habiba, please, what happened?"

"Nothing important." Isobelle shrugged it off. "It's fine Ardeth." She assured him when he didn't look so certain. "What matters is getting Alex back." The warrior looked at her, clearly unconvinced but he let it drop.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Torque crept towards the small corpse to look at it more closely, hearing the nervous whispers of the others.  
There was a commotion behind him but he refused to look, focusing solely on the corpse.  
Without warning it lunged forward and shrieked at him, stabbing him through his torso.

Amelia stepped around the tree and smiled cruelly; nine years of plans were finally reaching their fruition.

"DAD!" The woman heard Alex yell at the top of his lungs somewhere to her left, directly ahead of her she heard Rick's reply.

"ALEX!" Bullets flew and Amelia went pale, seeing the one person in all of existence that could stop her.  
Lady Ti Da'a fought valiantly beside Ardeth Bay, her clouded eyes narrowed, her expression set.

"You!" Amelia hissed and hurled a ball of liquid-like fire at the clearly blind Egyptian, who seemed to look up at the last minute and deflect it, sending the power hurtling back towards its owner.  
A split second before it hit her, Amelia teleported out of the line of fire, finding herself standing in the middle of the moonlit desert, a clear view of the vast encampment of the Medjai.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Isobelle turned around and parried the blow aimed at her neck easily, aware of the terrified look she got from her would-be assailant.  
Ruthlessly, she pressed her advantage, lopping off the man's head before turning to help Ardeth, Rick had split off to grab Alex and was currently sprinting through the jungle; instinctively following the minor nudges the Egyptian woman continually sent to him, guiding him towards the pyramid.

"Get out of here Isobelle." Ardeth ordered tersely as Lock-Nah advanced on the Medjai warrior.

"No Ardeth." She snarled, hurling two daggers at their attackers with deadly accuracy. "If you die I will die at your side." The gun was familiar in her hands as she shot two others. _"No matter what happens here, on this night Ardeth Bay, know that I love you more than life itself."_ Isobelle declared earnestly.

"Marry me." Ardeth proposed as they finished off their opponents. "When we get back to my home, become my wife."

"You're asking me _now_?" She asked incredulously as Lock-Nah descended on Ardeth.

"Yes." The Medjai warrior responded simply. "I've been meaning to ask you if you'll consent to marrying me since the bus ride in England."

"Why didn't you?" Isobelle asked, throwing a shield of pure, crackling energy around the trio.

"Didn't seem like the right time to ask." Came the response.

"How sweet." Lock-Nah taunted the pair as he attacked Ardeth again. "Too bad neither of you will live to see the dawn."

"SHUT UP!" The couple snapped at him.

"So, you think when there is every possibility that we'll both die is the perfect time to propose?" The small woman asked, bringing her khopesh up to protect Ardeth's flank from Lock-Nah's sword.

"Why not?" Ardeth responded. "Shukran."

"Aafwaan. I don't understand your logic in this Ardeth, but yes, I'll marry you." She said disarming Lock-Nah as Ardeth drew his sword up, cleanly gutting the swarthy man.  
Lock-Nah smiled once bitterly before he fell to the floor of the jungle, dead.  
Ardeth turned abruptly and kissed Isobelle soundly on the lips; in her surprise she dropped the shield surrounding them.  
There was a gunshot and the couple stiffened where they stood.  
Ardeth twisted around and looked at the body that was falling to the forest floor, Isobelle following his gaze before they both looked up at the ledge where Jonathan and Evy stood with their rifles cradled against their chests.  
Both Egyptians nodded wordlessly before slipping away into the forest, fingers laced together.

**Up on the ledge.**

"Let's go." Evy announced calmly, walking past her brother towards the narrow walkway they had originally used to get to the ledge.

"Thank god for that." Jonathan muttered as he turned, unable to help the well of jealousy rising up at the sight of Ardeth kissing Isobelle.  
He refused to dwell on it, knowing as he had all along that Isobelle was Ardeth's woman. "I think there might be a wedding in the near future." He commented as they ran towards where Rick waited for them.

"What makes you say that?" Evy huffed, her booted heels thudding to the firm floor of the jungle.

"The way Ardeth was kissing Isobelle." The pom pointed out, resisting the urge to clutch at the stitch that was forming in his side.

"Oh my god!" Evy hissed suddenly. "You're not _still_ mooning after Isobelle are you?" Jonathan shook his head wordlessly.

"Wouldn't dream of it. We're not even in the same league." He said after a few minutes of near silent running. "She's a strong warrior woman and I'm just an English fool who'll remain a bachelor forever." Evy glanced at her brother but said nothing.

\**********&&&***********/

**A/N, hope you enjoyed reading it. who'd have thought Jonathan was in love with Isobelle? I certainly didn't until I found myself typing it.  
Please stay with me. MWAHH! =D**


	9. Chapter 8 Hi ho into hell we go

**A/N I posted this chapter where it's at now because I've hit some serious writer's block and wanted to get this chapter out to you guys so I can take a much needed breather. I'll start writing it again when I've had a chance to clear some cobwebs both literal and metaphorical.**

**Please enjoy it and let me know what you think.**

Isobelle allowed her world to go black as they burst into the desert at full speed.  
She was hyperaware of Ardeth's hand clutched tightly in her own as well as the rising magic in the desert.

"_There is not long now until the scorpion king awakens." _She breathed to Ardeth.  
The warrior said nothing and she remained silent, aware that the pace he set was one that they could both easily sustain for days on end.

"_Can you scry the Medjai?" _Ardeth asked after several minutes.

"_We need to turn more towards the north." _She said after a few pregnant minutes._ "The sands are whispering of a great horde of warriors about an hour from here on foot. I can't see a thing at the moment so we're going to have to communicate more verbally until we reach the Medjai."_

"_How great a horde?" _The warrior asked softly as they slowed for a quick respite that both would need with the ensuing battle_._

"_I had no idea there were that many Medjai."_ The small woman sounded awed by the sheer numbers that waited to greet them.

"_Roughly how many?" _ Ardeth asked as they set out, once again at a steady, ground eating trot.

"_There must be thousands of them."_ Isobelle replied softly.  
The imposing Medjai grunted; tugging her in the direction she presumed was where she had indicated for them to go. She went with him willingly, knowing she would be ordered to leave the Medjai without Ardeth having to say anything. _"Have your nephew, Alvan take me to safety."_ She murmured quietly, knowing she would not fight her fiancé on this. She was aware of the look he gave her even if she did not see it.

"_You will not try to fight?"_ Isobelle shook her head in response to his wholly reasonable query.

"_I know you do not want me in danger during the battle that will ensue."_ She replied softly._ "It will not do to have the future commander to the third tribe publicly questioned by his future wife." _The logic was sound but she felt like she was giving up a huge part of who she was to make certain he didn't lose face.  
From then on they ran in near silence, only the sounds of their quiet breathing and the muffled thumps of their feet hitting the dunes in a steady, even rhythm that seemed to be a music all its own.  
Without warning Isobelle felt people swarming around them and the sounds of people speaking excitedly.

"_I am Ardeth Bay, son of Lord Ali Bay and his honoured wife Lady Adara Bay of the third tribe of the Medjai."_ The young warrior announced calmly. _"This woman is Lady Isobelle O'Connell, also of the third tribe; please tell me where our tribe have set up their tents."_ Isobelle remained silent, knowing there would be a stir at her unusual name and title.

Ali Bay himself met them, ushering the pair into his tent to be told everything.  
Including what she had hidden from the members of the tribe when she first lived among them.

"_So the murderer, Lock-Nah is dead at last."_ Ali murmured gravely, sounding very much like his son as he spoke. _"Will you be staying with us this time Isobelle?"_

"_Yes my lord, I will be staying with the Medjai from now until the day I leave this world to join my ancestors in the after-life. If you will allow me to."_ She answered gravely, swallowing nervously.

"_Father, I want you to marry us."_ Ardeth said in a rush. _"I want to take Isobelle as my wife now."_  
The older man chuckled when he heard his son's earnest words; Isobelle resisted the urge to use her Ma'at to see the older man, knowing she could need to be able to use it later.

"_I guess he's not leaving you room to flee him a second time is he my dear?"_ The small typhlotic woman blushed prettily and nodded.

"_It would seem so."_ She murmured, sotto voce. _"I do not want to run a second time however."_ Ali took her hands from beside her and gripped them warmly.

"_Then of course I shall marry you now my son, I would be honoured to be able to Call Isobelle my daughter." _ Isobelle smiled brilliantly. _"And then we will have an escort take you to safety." _The Egyptian woman shook her head quickly.

"_No. I can defend myself easily enough; Alvan Barakah will be more than sufficient to guard me."_

Not long after Isobelle found herself bundled up in a cloak standing between her husband and her father-in-law, gripping Ardeth's hand tightly as Alvan mounted a spirited stallion. She squeezed Ardeth's hand tightly. "Come back to me Ardeth Bay." She ordered him sternly. "Promise me you will come back to me."

"I will Habiba. I promise." He turned her so that she was facing him, his hands on her shoulders.  
She reached up and traced his features lovingly with the pads of her fingertips. "I love you." He added so only she could hear him before she felt her husband's calloused hands grip her waist and hoist her up to the waiting arms of the young man on the excitable stallion. _"Keep her safe for me Alvan."_ The warrior ordered sternly, worry colouring his tone.

"_You can count on me uncle." _ The youth pledged almost breathlessly as he gathered the reins of his mount and soon Isobelle felt the bunching muscles of the creature as he raced across the desert.  
Ardeth watched them go until they were out of sight and sighed.

"_The council of elders will not be pleased that you have taken an impure woman as your first wife." _Ali murmured as they turned and walked back towards where the warriors of the third tribe were preparing for the encroaching battle.

"_If they have a problem with it then I will step down and give leadership of our tribe to Butros."_ Ardeth stated firmly. _"I have made my decision; Isobelle is to be my only wife, just as mother is yours. I will not take another woman to wife, neither during my time with Isobelle, nor after and I certainly will not forsake her to appease the council."_ Ali nodded wordlessly, knowing his son was serious.

Isobelle balanced steadily on the horse, knowing that Ardeth's nephew, _her_ nephew, would not let her fall anyway.  
She remained silent as they rode, knowing the lad was searching for something to say to fill the silence.

"_You are a good horsewoman." _Alvan stammered after several minutes.

"_Thank you Alvan. If you do not wish to talk I will be content with silence."_ She felt the young man sag with relief and smiled secretly; feeling the desert heat up as the dawn melted into a crisp, hot morning.

Ardeth sat on his horse at the front of the ranks of the Medjai, watching the piceous sands as they billowed and danced across the desert in a great, contorted swarm of the purest evil Ardeth had ever come across.

"_So it begins."_ He murmured darkly, feeling the familiar rush of adrenalin that always came right before a fight when the corpse-like Anubite warriors stood up and surveyed the horde of Medjai warriors.  
Ardeth turned his horse and rode towards his own company of men, not least among which were his younger sisters and a few of the women from his tribe that always fought beside their men.  
If Isobelle ever regained her sight she would fight beside him he knew.

Isobelle stiffened when she felt the magic spread its sinister hand across the desert.

"_Alvan, stop, we need to go back the other way."_ She ordered the lad fearfully.

"_I promised my uncle I would keep you safe."_ Alvan objected stubbornly.

"_You don't understand Alvan; the Army of Anubis is ahead of us."_ Isobelle reached forward and took the reins from the young man's hands and pulled back on the reins as hard as she could, turning the horse around.

"_What are you doing? We can't go back its too dangerous."_ Isobelle felt him take the reins from her and start to turn the horse around.

"_We have to warn the others."_ Isobelle cried frantically, already reaching for the horse's mind and taking over, forcing the creature to turn through the sheer force of her will.

"_You need to be taken to safety my lady!"_ Isobelle shook her head, urging the horse back towards the Medjai warriors.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Amelia turned her icy blue gaze on the two riders sharing the horse as she felt Ti's power reach out and take control of the magnificent white creature and turn it around.

"That won't do Ti. Not at all." She hissed cruelly as she raised her hands to the sky and chanted in a sibilant growl, her body becoming formless, inky liquid smoke and power.  
She rose up over the majestic dunes and swarmed down towards the lone horse with its two riders.  
Ti hurled her own power at the ball of magic at the apparition of evil the powerful mix of light and dark clipping the soul of the woman as she dove at the pair.  
The Egyptian witch launched herself out of the saddle at the last minute.

"_Get out of here!"_ She cried as Amelia enclosed the small woman in darkness.  
The young man watched Ti as she was sucked through the whirlwind of darkness and disappeared into nothingness.

Isobelle and Amelia slammed into the cold hard sandstone floor with twin grunts, the small dark haired woman rolling to her feet in a single quick practised movement, her attention being drawn inexorably to the chillingly insane cackle of Amelia as she lay on the floor.

"I did it!" She crowed out suddenly and Isobelle sank into a crouch, reaching for her kunai and freezing as she realised she no longer had her weapons with her, only clad in a short white cotton tunic with black embroidery along the edges that was belted at her waist with a strip of soft leather, the black hem of the tunic caressed the scarred columns of her subtly muscular thighs, her feet were bare and the ebony waterfall of silken curls hung past her hips, the thick mass dancing in a non-existent breeze.  
Amelia lay on the floor, her tunic pure black, her long hair spread around her in a twisted halo of flaxen threads.  
Isobelle looked around the circular chamber, noting the single decorative, inverted stone archway carved into the wall on one side of the chamber.

"I don't think this is the judgment chamber Amelia." Isobelle cautioned softly as she glanced at the high, vaulted ceiling, seeing the columns with large empty spaces.  
A whisper swept eerily through the chamber as Amelia stood up. "It looks more like an arena, somewhere for two people to battle it out for the amusement of others."

"No. It has to be the judgement chamber!"Amelia snarled "It cannot be anything else. I was promised it would be the judgement chamber he took me to."

"Who?" Isobelle asked warily, stepping backwards defensively as she saw the fanatical gleam in the other woman's eyes, without realising her step took her closer to the archway that was now beginning to glow with magic that was neither black, nor was it white, but a mix of the two. "Tell me Amelia, who promised you?"

"I wouldn't expect _you_ to understand, sweet Ti."Amelia crooned softly as she lashed out, hurling a ball of oily black magic at Isobelle.  
The small dark haired woman threw a hasty shield up, the force of Amelia's attack driving Isobelle backwards through the archway.

Amelia hissed triumphantly when she saw Isobelle's body shatter into nothingness on coming into contact with the archway.

**A/N could this be the end of Isobelle and Ardeth? Will defeating the Scorpion King be worth it for Ardeth? Stay tuned to find out folks.**

**That read like a bad voice over from a cartoon. Any way. No I'm not that cruel, I put way too much into Asha (Isobelle) and Ardeth. You want to know what happened you'll just have to wait for chapter nine. Cheerio!**


	10. Chapter 9 Elektra's story

**A/N hey guys, here's chapter nine for you, I will explain everything at the end of the chapter.**

**Please RR Enjoy it =)**

The woman knew two things; the first, was that she was floating in a metallic tasting liquid, seemingly suspended in a timeless river, the second was that she was as naked as the day she was born.  
Had she been born? How did she know this? What was her name? Elektra? Ti? Maria? Centaine? Seonaide? Isobelle?  
Well, she wasn't so much naked as formless. She frowned at the discontent in her thoughts.  
There was something she was supposed to do, someone she needed to go back to.  
Where was back? The woman, was she even a woman?  
She vaguely remembered something, or was it someone? Compelling dark brown, eyes?  
Tanned skin with the elegant tattoos of a warrior gracing his harshly sensual features, a neatly trimmed sable goatee framed his wickedly tempting mouth, ebony hair that was softly curled at the ends.  
She reached out towards the man who seemed to be floating in front of her, trying to trace his features with the pads of her fingertips, but the apparition was swept away by the phlegmatic sanguine tide.  
Who was he?  
She sighed; the comfortable lethargy dominating her entire formless being, the handsome man gone from her mind, conveyed on the slothful current to who knew where.

_Wake up my beloved daughter._ The voice was warm, coaxing her to wakefulness gently. _You are not done yet Nura._

Nura? Was that her name? _Wake up Nura, come to me. Remember who you are._  
Nura felt her entire body come together with a powerful jerk and she kicked upwards, reaching towards the one who was stretching out one hand for her.  
Unseen hands clawed at her as she swam towards the one reaching for her, trying to drag her back down into the sweet oblivion that awaited her if she gave up.  
The closer to the surface of the crimson river she got the harder swimming became but she refused to give up, seeking the sweet tasting air that awaited her if she could just reach the hand that was held out to her.  
Her fingers brushed the mysterious hand and the hand's owner lurched downwards, gripping her wrist in an iron-like manacle of warm yet clammy flesh-steel-bone that dragged her from the bleeding current.  
_Where am I? _Nura asked after several minutes, looking around herself at the desolate landscape, barely noticing the river of blood.

_The Christians that come through here call it Purgatory. You will need to pass through it to complete your task._ Nura looked at the speaker, struggling to make out his blurred appearance. _I will be watching over you Nura._ He said before vanishing with a soft pop.  
Nura shrugged and began following the bloody river.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Amelia was practically purring with contentment as she saw the power from the archway fade.

"Poor Ti, she should have known she'd have no hope." The witch crooned to no one in particular, walking around the chamber, studying it closely.

"Hello Sawdaa, I can see you." Ti whispered coldly from behind her.  
Amelia spun, hurling magic at her.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Amelia shrieked emphatically. "I JUST KILLED YOU!" Ti laughed, the sound once again coming from behind the English witch.

"You should know I won't die so easily Sawdaa." Amelia spun again, lobbing more dark power towards the sound of her voice, coming face to face with the sensually dark god of the dead, Anubis.

"She's still alive Habiba." The dark god whispered to her, leaning in close, his hooked nose brushing her cheek, his warm breath caressing her skin softly, he reached up one perfectly formed hand tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.  
Amelia turned her head to look up into his eyes trustingly, icy blue meeting slate gray.  
Anubis smirked, tilting his head until the sensuous slash of his mouth was an inch above hers. "If you really want us to be together you have to kill Nura."  
Amelia tried to close the gap between the two of them but he was across the chamber from her, leaning a hip against the wall negligently. "Naughty little witch." He hissed seductively, shaking a long elegant finger at her.  
"It doesn't work like that. You have to give me what I want and then I can give you what you want." Amelia growled hoarsely in frustration. "Nura has to die my love." He added, standing in front of her again, his hand around her throat possessively. "Once she is dead I will give you your heart's desire." He captured her mouth with his in a brief hard kiss.

"How do I do that?" Amelia asked when her head stopped spinning. "Everything I've tried has failed." Anubis chuckled as he paced around the circular room, his movements a lithe seduction of their own. "She is protected by Osiris."

"All of his precious children are Al Mawt my love; Nura is no different." Amelia lowered her eyelashes demurely. "She currently travels through the Duat. You'll have to destroy her there if you are to succeed." Amelia nodded eagerly, walking towards him. "Kill her Al Mawt; she has to die before we can have anything."

"What of Mathayus? No doubt Imhotep will destroy him and take over your army." Amelia looked at Anubis in askance as she said this.  
The god was standing in front of her again, tracing her pink lips with his thumb.

"It's all taken care of Habiba." He crooned softly. "You need to get to purgatory to destroy Nura."

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Isobelle was beginning to think her own personal hell was to walk alone for eternity, hearing the voices of her past selves when she saw someone in the distance. Seonaide, Elektra and Maria raised their heads in unison, Centaine and Ti kept their heads down, their blind eyes making them useless in this.

_Who is that? Who is it? Do we know them?_ Isobelle frowned at the chorus of feminine voices that surrounded her mind, caressing her ears in a cacophony of concern and curiosity.

_We won't know until we meet them. _She whispered to the others sharing her body.  
The other one ahead of the women came into view. _Meela! Aikaterina! Ophelia! Tavia! Anck-Su-Namun! Karmen!_ The names were all called at the same time, some warily, some ecstatically, one was said flatly.

_So we all know who this one is from our own lives._ Isobelle remarked drily, as they approached the other one.

_We've been waiting for you._ The other one whispered in a multi-layered voice.

_How long have you been waiting?_ Nura asked the other one gently.

_Time does not exist in this place._ The other one shrugged. _We have been waiting for you to redeem us, but there is one missing from us. She was called back by the asinine one for some strange reason, we were happy being complete, we were going to pass on to the afterlife and whatever awaited us when you let us._  
Nura met the other one's eyes firmly, seeing the missing one, seeing the truth in the ancient eyes of the other one.

_I didn't want to do as my sister bade me Isobelle._ Meela spake the words earnestly, the other four parts of her soul echoing her sentiment. _She killed my husband and was going to kill my son. I loved them so very much._ Nura felt compassion welling up within her hearts.

_I'm sorry for taking your eyes Centaine._ Tavia spoke then, lowering her beautiful eyes meekly. _It was an accident._

_We have all seen the errors of our ways in our past lives. Please, save our sister soul, bring her back to us, even if you can't forgive us for our mistakes._ The other one pleaded.

_Walk with us._ Nura implored, linking arms with the other one and continuing to follow the river. _As our trials come you may wait or you may go but we would be glad of the company._ The other one nodded with a radiant smile and they set off together in silent companionship.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"They made it! Thank god." Evy breathed with relief as she and Jonathan came to a stop next to a golden statue of a Jackal.

"Yes, great. Fabulous!" Jonathan huffed, sliding his satchel off and dropping it to the ground.  
Without warning Anck-Su-Namun and Imhotep appeared, Imhotep hurling Jonathan a short distance away from the others, the Englishman crying out in surprised horror as Anck-Su-Namun plunged a wicked looking knife into Evy's solar plexus with a cold sneer.

"NO!" Rick screamed from just inside the pyramid, bursting from it with Alex close behind him.  
Anubis stood behind the statue that Evelyn was dying beside, saddened that the woman had to die, knowing why it had to happen.  
Osiris appeared beside him, his hair as neatly combed as it had always been in life.

"Are you satisfied now dear _brother_?" Osiris hissed in the other god's ear. "If you had not meddled in mortal affairs the O'Connell woman need not have died."

"We all know that this would have happened without my meddling _brother_." Anubis responded archly. "Your dear little Nura took care of that by prophesying it." They watched Evy's death in silence.

"Who are you?" Evy asked the two, her transparent form walking soundlessly towards the two gods. "What happened?" Osiris and Anubis looked at each other and shrugged.

"You died and we're here to take you to a safe place to wait." Osiris shrugged calmly. "If you'll just follow me Evy."

"Am I going to go to heaven?" Evy asked, already forgetting her life, looking back to where her family was grieving her passing.

"I guess you could call it that." Osiris shrugged holding a hand out to her. "Come along Evy."

"Is that my name?" She asked, causing both gods to laugh.

"It was your name for this incarnation." Anubis put in. "Before you can go to heaven however, your sister needs your help in purgatory."

"Oh. What's that?" Evy was more curious than concerned, something both gods had noticed with all mortals when they died.

"You'll see Evy. Come on, let's go help Isobelle." Osiris indicated his hand and she took it trustingly with a brilliant smile.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

_**Elektra sat at her loom, patiently weaving a beautiful tapestry to go into her unborn son's room when he was born.  
Her ebony tresses were bound in a silken net, her loose fitting plain white gown draping over her narrow shoulders and sitting on top of her rounded belly and milk laden breasts.**_

"_**Mother!" her five year old daughter, Callidora bounded into the smoky room, her unbound raven curls bouncing around her flushed cherub-like face. Elektra smiled at Callidora lovingly but did not stop weaving the tapestry for the new child. "Father is back from the Acropolis!" Elektra went pale at the small girl's announcement, one delicate hand going to her own throat defensively.**_

"_**Go to your room Callidora my love." Elektra told her small daughter, pushing to her feet laboriously.  
One dark skinned slave girl rushed forward to help the Grecian woman stand but she was waved away impatiently. "Take my daughter to the nursery; don't let her leave until I say it's safe." **_

"_**ELEKTRA! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE WHORE?" Doriskos yelled from the courtyard his words were garbled by strong wine.**_

"_**I am here husband." Elektra murmured demurely, stepping out of the shadows of the balcony of their domo.  
Doriskos sneered up at her from the dusty courtyard below before making his way up to the second landing. **_

"_**And what of Callidora?" he demanded snidely, caressing his wife's cheek in a mockery of affection.**_

"_**She has gone to her room, husband." She gasped as he struck her, sending her sprawling into one of the newer slave girls, automatically the supple young woman steadied her heavily pregnant mistress before stepping back out of her master's reach.  
Doriskos smirked cruelly, advancing on Elektra again, raining blows on her repeatedly, heedless of the cries for mercy.**_

"_**You useless slut, why did my father see fit to give me you for a wife?" he spat the words as he hit her.  
She screamed in sudden pain as the first of the contractions struck without warning.  
Her mother-in-law came out of the Gynaikon, hearing the commotion down in the main courtyard.**_

"_**She's in labour! You there! Get your mistress inside now." Anthousa ordered, hurrying down despite her son's drunken rage to help the mistress of the domo.  
The slave that had steadied Elektra earlier darted forward and gathered her mistress into her arms, another slave girl hurried forward as well, helping Elektra to her feet and the two young women half carried their mistress into the house.  
Doriskos watched the women hurry into the building with contempt.**_

_**Anthousa held up the tiny girl and smiled lovingly at her second granddaughter before handing her to the nurse.**_

"_**We need to get the after-birth out quickly." The matronly woman said as she knelt beside her labouring daughter-in-law. "Breathe Elektra."**_

"_**I don't think it is after-birth." Elektra huffed as she breathed through another contraction. She screamed in pain again.**_

"_**There's another baby." Anthousa announced after several minutes of tense silence punctuated only by the sound of Elektra straining to give birth to a second baby.  
The younger woman breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the lusty wail of a newborn baby accompany the crying of this new child's sister. "Another daughter." Elektra bit back a sob at her mother in law's saddened statement. "Doriskos will be displeased."**_

"_**I know Anthousa." Elektra murmured after several minutes of virtual silence.  
The matronly woman handed Elektra's daughters to her. "Bring Callidora to me. I wish to see my daughter." She instructed one of the two slaves that had helped the young woman to her chambers.  
The woman nodded and glided out silently. "Doriskos said if I did not give him a son this time he would kill me, Callidora and the new child." Elektra murmured. "Please, do not let him in until tomorrow when he has had a chance to calm down." She pleaded with Anthousa when they were alone with just the two infant daughters.  
Callidora seemed hesitant as she was led into the room by the slave.**_

"_**Mother?" she whispered, coming up to stand beside the bed. "Do I have a brother?" She asked peering at the baby nestled against her mother's bared breast.**_

"_**No dear one. Two sisters, would you like to hold this one when she has been fed?" The girl lit up brilliantly when her mother offered.**_

"_**Yes please mother, will I be staying with you tonight as well?" Elektra chuckled as she nodded, handing the infant to the five-year-old, showing her how to hold the baby before reaching for her third daughter. "What are their names?" Callidora asked as she crooned over her baby sister.**_

"_**They don't have names yet." Elektra murmured softly, unable to help the soft sigh of relief as the baby she held latched onto her nipple and began to suckle strongly.**_

"_**Oh. Will they tell us their names?" the girl asked with the bright inquisitiveness of a child.**_

"_**They are too young to speak yet dear one. They will need to be given their names." Elektra murmured patiently.**_

"_**WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CANNOT SEE MY TREACHEROUS WIFE?" Doriskos yelled from outside the door to the room all the women shared. "GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU FOOLS! I COULD HAVE YOU WHIPPED FOR SUCH INSOLENCE." Elektra shuddered and reached out to draw all three of her daughters closer protectively.  
Her brute of a husband burst into the room without warning his cruel features twisted in fury.**_

"_**No my son, she has just given birth, please allow her to rest." Anthousa came forward, trying to protect her grandchildren from her own child. "She can bear you a son." She grunted as she was slapped away by her drunken lout of a son.**_

"_**I told you what would happen if you did not give me a son Elektra." Doriskos snarled, snatching the baby from her arms.  
Her daughter wailed in protest, the sound cut short when her husband hurled the babe onto the floor, the infant's brains being dashed across the floor.  
Elektra screamed her grief, gathering her remaining daughters to her.  
Doriskos grabbed the child Callidora held next, ignoring the pleading of all the women in the room. "You will give me a son you little whore!" Doriskos hissed, shoving the remaining infant at the nurse. "I will leave you with these two for now." He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room darkly, leaving the women as they mourned the loss of the sweet babe.  
Anthousa was helped to her feet by a young slave and they all huddled together on the low bed.**_

"_**We will leave tonight Elektra. My other son will protect us from Doriskos." Anthousa murmured, holding the younger woman close. "None of us can stay here any longer." Elektra nodded wordlessly her grief making her numb.**_

Nura and Elektra both wept at the remembered pain, the others comforting her in her grief.

_We never escaped him._ Elektra murmured softly. _My poor sweet Callidora suffered because I tried to protect her._

_**Doriskos smirked at Elektra as he stood over the body of the five year old girl.**_

"_**You shouldn't have tried to run from me Elektra, now your daughters will pay the price." He crouched in front of the cowering woman and pulled her up into a sitting position by her long dark hair. "You'll watch as I kill Ambrosia in front of you." He beckoned two slaves forward; the two women who had helped Elektra give birth earlier that day.  
He then snatched the baby from her arms, placing the infant on the altar to Hestia, raising his knife high over his head.**_

"_**NO!" Anthousa shrieked, throwing herself of the babe's small form as Doriskos plunged his knife downwards, killing the old woman without a second thought, dropping her lifeless body on the ground, settling for ripping Ambrosia in two.  
Elektra screamed her grief again, sagging to the ground in defeat, her only ally in this horrible house and all three of her precious, beautiful daughters now dead, leaving her alone with a monster.**_

"_**Leave us." Doriskos dismissed the slaves, as he crouched over her again. "You will give me a son dear wife." He murmured softly already reaching for her with his meaty hands. "Even if it kills you."**_

"_**I'll die before I give you a son." She hissed as he pulled her closer to him, kicking out and struggling desperately.**_

"_**You'll give me what I want you little harlot." He snapped, slapping her smartly across the mouth and shoving her clothes out of the way.  
Elektra tried to get away from him crying out when he struck her again.  
He hovered over her long enough to free himself from his robes before plunging ruthlessly into her soft folds, taking her swiftly and brutally.  
Elektra lay on the packed dirt of the courtyard, ignoring the slaves that tried to coax her to her feet, not even reacting when she was picked up and carried to the women's quarters by a slave shortly after it started raining.  
Doriskos' treatment of her went on for weeks until she found out she was once again pregnant. **_

_**Elektra awoke in the middle of the night, the storm outside the rooms masking the sounds of her footsteps as she padded barefoot down to the kitchens, searching for a knife. **_

"_**If you want I could poison you mistress." The slave girl murmured softly from the doorway, causing Elektra to whirl around, a frightened squeak escaping her bruised throat.  
The girl shrugged nonchalantly and stepped further into the room, pushing the door closed with the heel of her sandal-clad foot. "But I don't believe that's what you want to do."**_

"_**What other option do I have?" Elektra asked softly. "I cannot escape him any other way."**_

"_**There is a way my lady. There is a tribe of women who will take you in, go to them, and seek sanctuary with them."**_

"_**What are they called?" Elektra was intrigued now.**_

"_**They are the Amazons." The young slave replied. "I will take your place to give you a head start my lady." She then offered, coming to a stop beside the large wooden bench. **_

"_**I couldn't. There is no way I'd be able to escape him." Elektra murmured, drawing back in dismay. "Not by running from here. The only way to get away from Doriskos is to die."**_

"_**No my lady, you don't have to die." The slave insisted, coming closer to Elektra. "They will take you in, if you like, I could go with you, instead of staying here." Elektra eyed her suspiciously. "All we have to do is get to the Amazons and we'll be safe."**_

"_**What do you get out of it?" Elektra asked softly backing away from the slave suspiciously.**_

"_**Freedom." The slave took a step forward. "To do as I please, to love who I desire." Elektra took one step back for each word, followed step by step by the slave woman. "I could spend days just training in battle, to protect a woman of my choosing." The mistress of the house came up against a wall but the slave continued towards her.**_

"_**What are you doing?" Elektra murmured as the tall slender woman stopped in front of her mistress.**_

"_**Seducing you my lady." She murmured as she leaned in close enough to brush her lips across Elektra's upturned mouth.  
The dark haired woman felt something unfamiliar, something terrifyingly thrilling.**_

"_**Why are you doing this?" Elektra asked breathlessly; barely able to hear anything past the roaring pound of her racing heart. "If we get caught he'll kill us both."**_

"_**Because I've been in love with you for quite some time, and even if we have only now, I will die happily." She replied softly, moving to press small nibbling kisses along Elektra's delicate jaw. "Don't you want to feel alive just this once my lady?" Elektra trembled with excitement, making the one decision that would prove fatal to the young slave woman.**_

"_**Bring me to life, if only for tonight." The mistress of the house whispered huskily against her lover's firm lips, sliding her soft hands up to twine in the messy hair of the hardened slave girl.**_

_This is really disturbing._ Seonaide Isobelle Centaine and Maria all said in unison from where they watched the pornographic scene unfolding.

_We actually engaged in that?_ Seonaide asked incredulously.

_Please tell us no one else does that._ Isobelle begged everyone.

_Does an orgy count?_ Maria asked brightly.

_EW!_ Came the responses of the other western women and Ti.

_Why are you all so bothered by that?_ Elektra inquired softly. _It was quite natural in those days for men and women to have, relations, so to speak, women were just more discreet about it._ Everyone made disgusted faces at it and turned away.

_Do we really have to live through this?_ Centaine asked unhappily as they re-immersed themselves in Elektra's story.

_**There was a commotion at the doorway and Doriskos was pulling the slave away from Elektra.**_

"_**You should know better Elektra." He snarled, snapping the girl's neck before slapping his wife smartly across the mouth.**_

"_**I'm pregnant!" she gasped before he could proceed to beat her yet again. "Please, you would not want to hurt your son would you?" Doriskos pulled back, a malicious smile on his cruel features.**_

"_**How do I know it's my son?" He hissed, standing over her imperiously. "How do I know it doesn't belong to one of the slaves?"**_

"_**You had all of the male slaves in this household castrated." She pointed out calmly as he turned and stalked from the kitchen.**_

_Thank god it's over._ Maria breathed after several minutes of silence.  
All the others giggled at her words and Elektra felt herself smile a little.

_I never did learn her name._ The Greek woman murmured almost wistfully.

_Do NOT start fantasizing over her now. We all have to see it._ Isobelle warned sternly. _Who's next?_

**A/N Just quickly with this chapter, Nura is the higher soul for all those incarnations of Isobelle, and for Isobelle to be able to fulfill her destiny, all her incarnations must go through purgatory. Please review, I know it's extremely random but hey, I'm a random person, after Ti i will be cutting straight to Isobelle. hope you liked it. =)**


	11. Chapter 10p1 The right decision

**A/N: Hey guys, so, I am extremely sorry about the flop that was my last chapter in this story.  
Hopefully this one has turned out better, just goes to show what happens when I hit extreme writer's block. Anyways, please RR, any and all feedback and suggestions are welcome. ;D Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me through it and I hope you enjoy it immensely, I know I'm loving writing it when I don't mess up.**

Rick O'Connell stalked forwards, the battle axe in his hands held ready, grief, determination and self-loathing etched into the lines of his roughly handsome face, his blue eyes haunted by the cold-blooded murder of his wife.  
The rhythmic clang of a gong reverberated through the chamber and ahead of the grieving man stood his ancient foe, Imhotep stood, feet planted, oblivious to the man behind him as he twisted his entire torso, swinging the great baton so the padded end struck the monumental golden disc.  
Rick jumped over a chasm filled with restless ghouls, landing lightly on the other side, his feet touching the sandstone floor as a great roar was heard, shaking the very foundations of the pyramid and causing Rick to nearly fall back into the never-ending chasm.  
He recovered quickly and ran at Imhotep, a determined battle cry tearing itself from his throat as he brought the axe down to kill his enemy.  
The high-priest of Osiris whirled and brought the baton up, preventing the killing blow O'Connell aimed at his head.  
The mummy pushed upwards and away from the two of them, throwing his baton and taking Rick's battle axe with it into a pit of burning fire. Rick recovered from being disarmed quickly, twisting up and smashing his fist into his opponent's face and bringing his hands up in a standard martial arts guard that would keep his head safe and allow him freedom of movement.  
Imhotep stumbled backwards in shock and reached up to touch the cut on his lip where Rick's fist had connected and looked at the blood on his hand.

"**So you wish to kill me?"** He asked coldly. ** "And then you will kill him, and send his army back to the underworld?"** Rick circled backwards, not taking his eyes off the priest in front of him. **"This I cannot allow."** Imhotep brought his hands over his head in a flowery show of getting ready to fight.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Naadia hurried after Nura and the other one, two of her sister souls' screaming at her about the danger Nura was in.

_Wait Nura!_ Naadia yelled after her. _Don't trust her! She will betray you!_ Nura and the other one turned back to look at her in confusion, just as Nura dropped to the ground, completely still.  
Naadia skidded to a stop beside her, quickly lashing out to attack the other one in defence of Nura.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

_**Ti couldn't stop crying, she had just lost everything because her father had lusted after the wrong woman.**_

"_**What is your father planning for Anck-Su-Namun's corpse?" one of the commanders of the Medjai demanded harshly of the small woman.**_

"_**I don't know!" Ti insisted, screaming in pain as the hot oil was dribbled down her bare back. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE HAS PLANNED!" she cried, tears of pain and humiliation streaming down her pale cheeks in unchecked rivers of salty liquid. "He never tells me anything anymore, not since he became that witch's lover." She slumped against her bonds, the wooden rack they had tied her to creaking with her weight being put on it suddenly.**_

"_**She can track him." She heard the warm voice say sadly, increasing her own grief. "She will be able to lead us to him."**_

"_**Please Ehteram, don't make me do it." Ti begged softly, feeling the familiar itch that always accompanied any of her injuries beginning to heal. "He's my father; I do not want to lose him."**_

"_**You will lead us to the traitor or you will suffer the Hom Dai alongside him." Her tormentor decreed and Ti slumped in defeat. "I will suffer beside him." She murmured brokenly. "You cannot make me betray the only family I have in this world." There was a commotion in front of her and she tried to listen past the rustling of cloth but she could not, and she had been stripped of her Ma'at upon entering the interrogation room so she could not see anything.  
She felt a cool cloth dabbing her brow, but she refused to move, her acute sense of smell telling her it was Ehteram holding the cloth.**_

"_**Please Ti, I don't wish to lose you." Ehteram murmured in her ear before moving to her back, dabbing a cold wet cloth over the burns gently. "I love you too much to watch you suffer the Hom Dai."**_

"_**He's my father Ehteram, I will not betray him." Ti whispered hoarsely. "No matter what he has done, I owe him too much for that." Ehteram was silent.**_

"_**Can you at least tell us what you believe he might do with Anck-Su-Namun's body?" He asked after several minutes of silently working on dressing the healing burns on her back.**_

"_**It's possible he could take her to Hamunaptra and try to resurrect her." She murmured thoughtfully.**_

"_**Ehteram, you'll take Ti with you to Hamunaptra along with your father's best men to apprehend Imhotep, we must stop this plague before it starts." The commander who had been torturing her before announced authoritatively. "The traitor will see what his actions have done to his daughter before he dies."**_

"_**What of the girl?" someone else asked from behind Ti.**_

"_**She has given us what we wanted; she is free to go once we have her father." Ti screamed a keening cry of grief and animalistic rage, realising she had been tricked into betraying her only family by the one man she could ever have loved.**_

"_**You tricked me!" She accused Ehteram. "You tricked me into telling them where he might be going!" She lashed out with her feet as soon as they were free, ignoring the sack-cloth tunic that was wrapped around her small, naked form, struggling against the arms that held her.**_

"_**Calm down Ti. If you're wrong he will be safe until we can find him." Ehteram tried to get through to her but she ignored him.**_

"_**Let me go you foul pig!" She snarled, squirming and fighting.**_

_**She could smell the familiar city of Hamunaptra and she allowed herself to weep, knowing it had been decided that she was to be the last thing her father would see before his eyes were gouged out in the Hom Dai.  
She lay on the alter that she had been tied to limply, begging Osiris to reach his hand out of the underworld and claim her life for his own. She was powerless, her Ma'at imprisoned in a quartz crystal on a necklace around Ehteram's neck.**_

"_**I'm so sorry father." She murmured softly. "I'm sorry." There was commotion nearby but she stayed perfectly still, hearing as the priests of Osiris were hustled through the chamber to the sah-ned-jey.**_

"_**TI!" She heard her father yell as he was dragged into the chamber where he was to be cursed. "What have you done to my daughter?" He demanded angrily and she sat up, leaning towards his voice.**_

"_**Father!" She cried out tearfully, holding her unbound hand out to him. "I can't see you." She heard him trying to get to her and she strained against the chain binding her to the altar as she tried to reach him. **_

"_**Let me go to her! She's my daughter you heartless bastards!" Imhotep roared.  
Ti could smell the unique smell that she had come to recognise as being Ehteram as he came to stand beside her at the altar of Osiris.**_

"_**Get away from me." She hissed, swatting at where she thought he was standing and encountering only air.**_

"_**You will forgive me one day Ti." The young man murmured softly, pain evident in his seductive voice. "Until then I cannot give you back your Ma'at."**_

"_**I will never forgive you for taking my father from me." She snarled at him, heedless of the tears tracking down her cheeks. "I hate you! You made me betray my only family." She drew herself up coldly, proudly. "In the name of the great god Osiris I curse the lines of all here." She announced. "May your heirs prove impotent and your souls and the souls of your sons be devoured at the weighing of the heart, no true daughter of Osiris shall walk among the Medjai until my chosen heir walks among the third tribe, so shall it be from now until the prophecy comes to its holy and just conclusion, when the guardians stand before the world and the decision made." She completed, giving her life to the curse that would plague the Medjai for over three millennia.**_

_I know now that my father is a monster._ Ti murmured softly to her sister souls. _I have suffered so long for that curse._

_The prophecy comes to Fruition as we speak. _ Isobelle whispered softly. _The curse will be lifted with the final battle._ The others nodded in agreement.

_I should not have placed the curse upon them._ Ti berated herself bitterly. _I gave my life for spite and they have payed the price since._

_It is one of the deciding factors in the outcome of the prophecy._ Isobelle consoled her sister soul. _We will lift this curse together._ The others all agreed determinedly.

_Naadia and the other one need us now._ Nura murmured gently to the others. _We must return to the path._

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

Ardeth urged his horse down the dune towards the Army of Anubis with a mighty battle cry that was echoed by the twelve tribes, matched by the ululating cries of the Anubites charging towards them. The two great armies came together in battle, merging until they each fought; man to demon.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

_Enough Naadia!_ Nura announced, coming to her feet in a single graceful movement. _She walks with us._ Naadia stopped and looked at Nura in shock. _She will not do us harm. You may rest in the after-life. _

_Thank you Nura._ Naadia whispered before disappearing. Nura turned back to the other one and they each nodded wordlessly, continuing to walk side by side next to the bleeding river, across the barren landscape.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

"Is that all you've got?" Jonathan challenged Anck-Su-Namun as she hit him yet again.  
She struck him twice more and he lashed out once quickly, catching her squarely on the chin.  
She grunted, her head snapping backwards involuntarily and glaring at him before touching her now tender jaw and looking at it in surprise.  
She walked away from him to a statue and grabbed two Sais, he remembered Isobelle telling Alex, from the wooden likeness of a man.  
Jonathan looked around for a weapon of his own and pulled his sceptre out of his belt quickly. "HURRY UP ALEX!" he yelled at his nephew and looking in the direction of the boy.  
Anck-Su-Namun turned and began stalking silently towards the boy who was reading an incantation uncertainly. Desperately Jonathan tried to club the woman over the head, but she turned, raising her Sais above her head and catching the sceptre in the upper cross guard she created with the twin weapons.  
They began fighting again as Alex moved on to the next incantation.

"Hefté Shukran, Hefté Shukran..." The boy chanted uncertainly. "Uncle Jon! I don't know what this last symbol is!"

"Well, what does it look like?" Jonathan shouted after pushing Anck-Su-Namun away from himself for a minute.

"A bird! A stork!" Alex replied at the top of his small lungs.

"I know that one!" Jonathan cried excitedly. "I know that one!" he threw his arms wide with a huge grin, forgetting for a moment that he was fighting a killer until she came at him again, grabbing his throat and trying to drive her remaining Sais into his throat.

"Then what is it?" the eight year old demanded impatiently.

"Amené-phuus!" Jonathan ground out as he pushed the woman away again.

"That's it!" Alex announced excitedly. Hefté Shukran Amené-Phuus." He was thrown away by the burst of power, losing his grip on the book of the dead.

\*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*/

_**Isobelle ran barefoot through the slime covered streets of Cairo to the cramped apartment she shared with her older brother.  
The sun had set over an hour ago and she was in some deep trouble, trouble that would only get worse if she didn't get home soon enough.  
The small woman-child was aware of someone following her but she couldn't think about that just yet.  
She bolted into one alley, clambering over the piles of trash and making it to the roof-top, stopping when she saw the accusatory eyes of Abdullah Bay.**_

"_**You were supposed to save her!" Isobelle looked around herself, noticing the tent and Adara lying on the bedroll behind the old woman's second born son. "Instead you killed her!"**_

"_**No! I would never hurt Adara!" Isobelle objected firmly. "I-I couldn't, she's like a mother to me."**_

"_**MURDERER!" the young man screamed as he drew his sword.  
Isobelle fled the tent, running into Ardeth's arms.**_

"_**Ardeth!" She sobbed into his chest.**_

"_**Get this pathetic woman off of me!" He ordered shoving her away from himself roughly.  
She looked up at him, hurt colouring her cheeks. "She wouldn't even try to bear my children for me." Isobelle gasped unhappily, clutching at her rounded stomach.**_

"_**Please Ardeth!" she begged, struggling to rise and finding she couldn't, the vision changing once again to one of her standing in the alley where it had happened.  
She turned to face her cousin, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Ardeth and Rick standing side by side where Aladdin had stood previously.**_

"_**I can't believe she lied about being raped." Rick muttered contemptuously.**_

"_**To think I actually believed you." Ardeth snarled, taking two steps to slap her across the mouth. "Do you want to know what it's like to truly be raped?" he taunted her, kicking her feet out from under her.**_

"_**I did say she seduced me did I not." Aladdin drawled as he rounded the corner and stepped into the alley to join them.**_

"_**He's lying." Isobelle screamed fearfully. "I would never lie about rape." Ardeth kicked her savagely.**_

"_**You won't live to see the dawn you whore." He snapped, grabbing her hair and pulling her to her feet roughly just as the scene changed again.  
Instead of Ardeth standing in front of her, a seasoned warrior stood before her, looking subdued.**_

"_**My lady, I am sorry, we lost our commander to them." Isobelle felt the keening cry claw its way out of her constricted throat. "Ardeth Bay is dead."**_

"_**He isn't." She stated hysterically. "I would know if he was dead. I would know, he's not dead. He can't be." The warrior bowed his head solemnly.**_

"_**I regret having to inform you of this, especially in your delicate condition." The vision changed again and Isobelle stood on a high bluff over-looking the encampment of the third tribe of the Medjai.  
The tents were on fire and she could hear the screams of the people below her but she simply turned and walked away, turning her back on their suffering.  
She came face to face with Ardeth as they stood in his tent, he was standing so close, his proximity causing her pulse to race, a faint gleam in his eye making her breath hitch in her throat and a prickle of unease to tickle her spine almost lovingly.**_

"_**What are you afraid of?" He whispered, his calloused hand coming up to grip the mass of silky curls behind her head, pulling gently so that she had to look up at him. "What do you fear Habiba?"**_

"_**What do you mean Ardeth?" Isobelle asked softly. "I don't understand."**_

Sawdaa looked at the scene before her.  
The other one was standing protectively over Nura protectively as Nura thrashed violently on the ground.

_Leave her to her fate._ Sawdaa ordered the other one, ignoring the helpless being for a moment.

_I cannot. I owe her a debt that I will repay._ The other one responded firmly. _I will not serve you anymore Sawdaa._

_Please Amelia, stop this madness before it destroys you._ Meela's voice whispered almost inaudibly.

_We don't want to lose you, sister._ The other one tried to coax Sawdaa to stop the madness. _The war you will start will tear the worlds apart. _

_It's not too late to stop it._ Aikaterina murmured as the other one reached out to Sawdaa.

"_**I don't understand Ardeth!" Isobelle screamed as he disappeared, leaving her standing alone in total darkness.  
Only, she wasn't standing exactly, more like she simply existed in a great sea of black. Then she found herself standing back in the arena, Amelia was gone, instead she faced a man who seemed to fill the room, despite being no more than about her own height and as thin as a whip. "Who are you?" She asked him, forgetting about Ardeth's cryptic words a moment before.**_

"_**I think you already know the answer to that my daughter." He answered softly. "Why are you walking this path?"**_

"_**What do you mean?" Isobelle asked, genuine confusion written plainly across her hauntingly beautiful features.**_

"_**The others, Elektra, Ti, Centaine, and Seonaide have all walked through here before. They were waiting for the day you would come to set them free by facing your fears." He told her softly.**_

"_**How would my fears set them free?" Isobelle asked, not fully understanding.**_

"_**Because you are they, and they are you." He explained. "You share their fears even if you don't realise it."**_

"_**Elektra lost her children to a monster, and I fear losing my own children." Isobelle murmured, realisation slowly dawning on her.**_

"_**Ti believes she was the reason her father suffered the Hom Dai and became the monster he now is." The man standing before her explained.**_

"_**So I fear being the cause of others suffering." Isobelle whispered softly. "Especially if it is someone I care for dearly."**_

"_**Centaine was abandoned as a child because she was not the coveted son her father wanted." **_

"_**So I fear abandonment. Seonaide could never make her family proud of her, so I fear messing up in my own life." Isobelle met his eyes and squared her shoulders. "I was raped and so I fear it happening again." He nodded calmly. **_

"_**The only thing in these worlds you truly have to fear, is fear itself my child." He told her calmly. "Face them, show yourself and the others that you are strong enough for your destiny." Isobelle nodded once and she was standing on a battle field, watching two men as they squared off for battle, on the right, stood her cousin Aladdin, sabre at the ready, on the left, Ardeth unarmed, standing simply, as if awaiting something important.**_

Sawdaa hurled a blast of purely black magic at the other one, the blood in her veins running cold when the magic split to the side harmlessly fading into nothingness.  
The other one just stared at her fearfully, silently begging the agent of evil to stop what she was trying to do.

_How did that not work? _Sawdaa hissed, calling on her considerable reserves of power. _You should be DEAD!_ The other one looked at her sadly.

**A/N: Like I said above, all feedback is welcome and appreciated. Let me know what you think.  
Also, I'm making this a two part chapter because of how hard I hit the wall known as writer's block. =D**


	12. Chapter 10p2 Free from fear

**A/N: Hey guys, so, here is the second part of chapter ten, let me know what you think. Padshii out! =D**

Ardeth fought beside his men, confident in the knowledge that Isobelle, his sweet young wife was well on her way to safety.

"_It's over!"_ One young man called ecstatically as Ardeth slew the final Anubite.  
The general cry went up among the elated Medjai warriors.  
The young regent chief felt more than heard the approach of many feet. He turned in the direction of it and bolted towards the sense of foreboding.  
As he crested the nearest dune joined by the thousands of men he felt his knees go weak at the hordes of jackal headed warriors running towards them, and struggling to turn the animal back was Isobelle and Alvan, without warning a black cloud fell upon the mounted pair and the horde fell upon them.  
Ardeth felt a roar of utter despair well up in his throat, his ears ringing as he watched his nephew cut down by the warriors and his bride stolen from him by a cloud of malignant obsidian.

"ISOBELLE!" Ardeth roared his grief as the army of Anubis approached over the dunes at high speeds, wordlessly begging the gods to return his woman to him.  
Around him the warriors that still stood stoically ignored his outpouring of grief, knowing he would push it aside to protect his men in the ensuing battle.

_**Isobelle felt as if she were being strangled as she found herself standing between the source of her torment and her one hope of salvation.  
Dimly she was aware of struggling forces outside her sphere of existence. She felt as if the struggle were her own, the dark from the light.  
Both Ardeth simply stood waiting patiently while Aladdin struggled wildly, slashing with his wicked looking scimitar at her, not noticing that it passed through her harmlessly, he spoke harshly but the words did not reach her.  
Isobelle felt her heart flutter slightly in alarm at his attack, crying out in pain when she felt the unexpected bite of the weapon.  
Ardeth seemed saddened by her pain while Aladdin grinned triumphantly. The malicious being opened his mouth to speak and this time she heard the faint whisper of sound; **_

"_**You belong to me." Isobelle shook her head adamantly, the words refusing to squeeze past her suddenly tight throat.  
To her horror Ardeth slowly became smaller and further away from her and Aladdin seemed to grow in stature.  
The tiny woman opened her mouth to scream but no sound would emerge and Ardeth was soon no more than a speck on the horizon, Aladdin a gargantuan figure who loomed menacingly over her small form.  
Isobelle struggled to think past the overwhelming terror that caught at her as she turned towards Ardeth running blindly across the desert, she stumbled over, feeling the horrible weight of her fears stooping over her triumphantly, feeling the icy, dagger like fingers clawing cruelly up her legs, a great maw engulfing her and above her the saddened visage of Ardeth Bay faded to nothing.  
As his likeness disappeared from her view her fears swamped her drowning her, surrounding her; the images of those she loved most turning away from her with varying degrees of disgust and contempt, harsh words flung at her until finally it was Ardeth's words that proved to be her undoing.**_

"_**I expected more." Then she was left alone in an endless ocean of all encompassing fear and self-loathing, Ardeth's final words whispering to her over and over again.  
Barely heard taunts jabbed at the small, broken creature, eventually failing to penetrate the ice that began to build over her small form, imprisoning her in the cold grip of her fears.  
Isobelle felt the shift, as if a shadow had lifted from the world, brightening her icy prison minutely.  
She opened her eyes a crack to see pitch black surrounding her, the muffled sounds of the taunts bounced off the ice surrounding her small naked form that had curled in on itself in despair, the cold seeped into her very soul and she was fleetingly aware that her prison was dragging her down.  
The image of Ardeth's handsome, tattooed face swam behind her eyelids, the final words she had heard him say before she was engulfed in her icy cage swimming through her mind.**_

"_**I expected more." There was disappointment and contempt in those words.  
The wretched creature opened her eyes again as a suddenly bright light appeared to her on the outside of the ice. **_

_Go to hell and take your friends with you!__** Rick's voice reverberated loud and clear through the ice.**_

_ISOBELLE!__** The anguished cry of Ardeth's voice, causing a spider's web of cracks to spread through the ice around her head.  
Isobelle looked disinterestedly at the cracks forming in the ice, cracks that were already sealing themselves as the taunts bounced again and again off of the hardened shell, the echoes of that single anguished cry spurred the small woman into action.**_

"_**ARDETH!" She screamed out loud; though no sound emerged from her throat.  
She reached out a single frozen arm touching the ice in the centre of the web of rapidly vanishing cracks, feeling the prison break into trillions of microscopic shards of ice, the cold water tried to drag her shivering form down but she swam up towards the faintest of lights far above her, her fears trying to drag her back to the icy depths her need to get to Ardeth lending her strength.  
"ARDETH! Where are you?" onward she swam, towards the surface where she knew there would be calm despite the turmoil that threatened to drag her further into herself.  
The wretched creature clawed towards the voice that had cried her name in such anguish.  
Soon she found that the mindless struggle against her fears became less. Isobelle broke the surface of the ocean, Ardeth stood on the shore nearby and the small woman reached out to him. "I choose you." She called to him, the words tearing themselves from her heart and soul. "I choose to stand beside **_**you**_** Ardeth Bay. I love you!"  
The ocean of fear disappeared and she stood in front of him, her slight form clad in a robe of virgin white that was cinched at her narrow waist by a girdle of pale blue, its hem pooling around her delicate, bare feet.  
Her long ebony curls cascaded around her form; a striking contrast against the snowy hue of the robe and the blue of the girdle.**_

"_**You are free, Habiba." **_Ardeth whispered as the world around them faded away and Isobelle was once again part of the whole.

**A/N: What did you think? It's not as good as previous chapters, definitely better than Elektra's story, this actually stays close to the storyline. Thank you Tay-Tay-95 for your review in the first part of this chapter. Please Please Please let me know what you think everyone, I crave your reviews.**


	13. Chapter 11 FIN

**AN: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get this, the last chapter of chasing Anubis, up what do you reckon, should I do a short story set ten years from this one? please RR I hope you enjoy, Padshii out ;)**

**\\\/**

Ardeth stood on the sandstone cliff over-looking the vast encampment of the celebrating Medjai.  
The sounds of music and merri-making floated up to the lone rider, seeking to tempt him into joining with the twelve tribes as they celebrated the end to their three thousand year old war against the creature.  
Ardeth ignored the siren call, unaware of the salty tears wandering at a leisurely pace down his tattooed cheeks. He was dimly aware of Rick O'Connell riding up behind him.

"She wouldn't want you to grieve like this." The Medjai warrior's brother-in-law said softly.

"How would she want me to grieve." Ardeth mouthed inaudibly, already knowing what the American was saying.  
After several moments of silence the young leader heard Rick turn the borrowed mount and ride away to rejoin the party.  
Ardeth Bay remained on that cliff all through the freezing desert night, throughout the night several people had come up to stay with him a while.

"If I were to say to you; I am a stranger travelling from the East, seeking that which is lost." Ardeth started Violently and twisted to look at the small woman in black, her long silky raven hair tumbled in a wealth of thick lustrous ringlets, settling around her like a glossy cloak, resting on the rump of her equally dark Arabian stallion.  
Ardeth drank in her beloved features as the fiery dawn kissed her lovingly, lighting her dramarically dark eyes with a fire deep within.

"Isobelle." Ardeth breathed in disbelieving awe. She smiled in radiant response to the unspoken love in his eyes. "I thought you were dead." The tiny woman launched herself from the saddle, fastening the ruby bow of her small mouth over the strong, masculine slash of his mouth.  
When the pair broke apart they found they were no longer alone; Rick, Evy, Jonathan and Alex were all staring at Isobelle with dumbstruck looks on their faces.

"Aunty!" Alex cried, breaking the spell, running to the woman they had all thought dead just minutes before.

FIN


End file.
